Huntington Hosts August Wilson Monologue Comp. 2/5

Huntington Theatre Company and Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company are proud to present the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) for Boston high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors. The monologue competition, which focuses on the plays of August Wilson's Century Cycle, will be held on Saturday, February 5 at the Boston University Theatre, the Huntington's main stage. The top three winners of the Boston finals will be awarded all-expense-paid trips to compete against winners from other participating regions in the National Finals on Broadway at the August Wilson Theatre in May 2011. The local and national finals are free and open to the public.

The Huntington has had a special relationship with Wilson and his work since 1986, serving as an artistic home to develop and premiere eight of the ten plays of his Century Cycle during his life and producing a ninth after his death. Kenny Leon, longtime Wilson collaborator and artistic director of AWMC-sponsoring theatre company, helmed three of the nine Huntington productions, most recently, the universally acclaimed Fences (2009).

Preliminary competitions will take place in January at participating Boston Public Schools: Another Course to College, Boston Adult Technical Academy, Brighton High School, Dorchester Academy, English High School, Fenway High School, Edward M. Kennedy Academy for Health Careers, and Snowden International School at Copley. Huntington Education staff and teaching artists have been visiting these schools weekly since November to introduce Wilson and his plays, support script analysis and character development, and coach students in their performances in preparation.

To compete at both the regional and national finals, students will perform a 2-3 minute monologue of their choosing from one of the ten plays in Wilson's Century Cycle. Contestants will be judged by a panel of theatre and education professionals on the basis of preparedness, understanding of the text, emotional connection to the material, and commitment to the performance.

August Wilson's Century Cycle is a singular achievement in American theatre. Each of the ten world-class plays is set in a different decade of the 20th century. At the plays' core are soaring, lyrical monologues that take the song, laughter, pain, and rich content of African American life and place it in the mouths of the most varied ensemble of characters written since Shakespeare. The inspiration for the competition was sparked by two of August Wilson's closest living collaborators, Leon and Todd Kreidler. Leon worked closely with Wilson directing many of the Century Cycle plays on Broadway and at major regional theatres. True Colors Associate Artistic Director Kreidler served as dramaturg for Wilson's last play and director of his one-man show.

"The goal of the competition is to build partnerships with schools and theatres across the United States and to create educational materials about August Wilson that allow students to connect these important theatre works with educational curricula in history, social studies, and literature," said Kreidler, Associate Artistic Director, Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company. "This monologue competition offers students of all races the opportunity to inhabit the lives and speak the words of these vital, lively characters."

"I've seen the power of August Wilson's words on students firsthand in the more than 20 years the Huntington has produced his plays for Boston students," says Donna Glick, Director of Education at the Huntington. "His plays are poetry, and young people are hungry to inhabit the rich characters he creates."

National Finals will be held in May 2011 at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City where Boston's winners will compete with other regional finalists from across the nation. Airfare, hotel accommodations, workshops and performance tickets will be provided in collaboration with Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company and Jujamcyn Theatres.

Funding for the national August Wilson Monologue Competition comes from AT&T, Turner Broadcasting Systems, Inc, AirTran Airways, Publix Supermarket Charities, Massey Charitable Trust, and National Endowment for the Arts. Local funding is provided by the Boston Public Schools Arts Expansion Fund and Edvestors.