Get In Touch

We'd love to hear from you!

BB&N Office of Communications communications@bbns.org

Monahon ’09 Wins National Shakespeare Competition

Talene Monahon ’09 with her first place certificate and the panel of judges, including actor Gene Wilder at right.

BB&N senior Talene Monahon has won the prestigious 2009 English-Speaking Union of the United States (ESU) National Shakespeare Competition. Monahon’s victory in the Boston Branch earlier this year sent her to the finals at New York City’s Lincoln Center on April 27th, where she prevailed against the 59 winners of ESU Branch competitions nationwide. Her prize for winning the national competition is a full tuition scholarship to the British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer Conservatory Program in Oxford, England. 

During her trip, Monahon spent two days exploring the city and staying at a youth hostel, and on the third day each finalist performed a monologue and a sonnet for a panel of judges (three of whom are pictured above with Talene: casting director Nancy Piccione, producer and teacher Barry Edelstein, and actor Gene Wilder). The judges then narrowed the students down to 10 finalists, and each of the ten was given a cold reading to prepare and perform in ten minutes.

“I feel so lucky and honored by the experience. I think my success is really thanks to the incredible education I’ve received at BB&N,” Monahon said. “I’m really looking forward to Oxford and an idyllic summer of Shakespearean delights, but the real thrill of the experience was the opportunity to meet fellow Shakespeare enthusiasts from across the country. I loved learning with and getting to know such wonderful, talented people.”

The English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition is a school-based program to help students develop their speaking and critical thinking skills and their appreciation of literature as they explore the beauty of the language and ageless themes in Shakespeare’s works. In three progressive competition levels, students memorize, interpret, and perform monologues and sonnets in their own schools, at ESU Branch sponsored community competitions, and at the National Shakespeare Competition.  Inaugurated in 1983, the program has engaged more than 250,000 young people.

“It’s a great credit to Talene—she is a gifted young actress who works very hard to extend her gifts,” theater teacher Mark Lindberg said. “She competed in-house with a number of talented BB&N peers so it is a nice thing for BB&N when good people who are passionate and committed get recognition.”