Oak Park Festival Theatre Honors National Shakespeare Competition Finalist

Oak Park Festival Theatre will honor Oak Park & River Forest High School rising senior Alexandria Frisch for her outstanding achievement as a finalist in the English-Speaking Union's prestigious National Shakespeare Competition.

Kevin Theis, OPFT board co-president and director of Henry V, will make a special presentation recognizing Alexandria on Sunday, August 14. Alexandria also will perform prior to that evening's performance of OPFT's acclaimed production of Henry V. The festivities begin at 6:30 p.m. onstage in Oak Park's Austin Gardens.

"Festival Theatre believes strongly in its commitment to enrich this extraordinary community through both public art and service," said Belinda Bremner, OPFT board co-president. "One of the ways we can do that is to recognize young artists whose accomplishment demonstrates not merely extraordinary talent in the interpretation of Shakespeare, but also the true spirit of the citizen artist. Alexandria's achievement as a finalist in the National Shakespeare Competition, as well as her record of commitment to community service, clearly reflects those values that we all hold dear."

Since 1983, the English-Speaking Union has sponsored the National Shakespeare Competition in which high school actors and actresses compete first in regional competitions throughout the United States. Each student is required to perform a Shakespearean monologue and sonnet of their choice. As the winner of the ESU Chicago Branch Competition, Alexandria earned the right to travel to New York City for the final stage of the competition, which was held May 2nd at New York's famed Lincoln Center. Alexandria, an Oak Park resident, was one of the top ten finalists.

Competing with 56 other actors from across the United States, Alexandria performed Cleopatra's lament over Mark Antony's corpse ("No more, but e'en a woman") from Act IV, Scene 15 of The Tragedy of Antony and Cleopatra, and "Sonnet 54." Alexandria will repeat this program on August 14 for the Festival Theatre audience gathered for that evening's performance of Henry V. In addition, Alexandria, as Portia, will be joined by River Forest resident Tam Dickson, OPRFHS Class of 2011, as Nerissa, in a scene from Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice.

Alexandria began taking acting classes at Oak Park's Village Players when she was four years old. In 2003, when she was nine, she appeared as Scout in the Village Players production of To Kill a Mockingbird, as well as Young Norma in Flowers for Algernon and Little Mary in The Women. In 2004, she appeared as Marlene in the Eclipse Theatre Company's production of Keith Reddin's Brutality of Fact at the Victory Gardens Greenhouse Theater. At OPRFHS, she has appeared as Mrs. Linde in Ibsen's A Doll's House, Elizabeth Proctor in Arthur Miller's The Crucible, and Becca in David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole, which was directed by Tam Dickson. An AP honors and Dean's List senior at OPRFHS, Alexandria is entering her fourth year as a member of the OPRFHS Speech Team and was one of three OPRFHS 2011 speech team members to qualify for last spring's Illinois High School Association state speech tournament. In May, she was selected to present the featured student address for the OPRFHS annual Memorial Day Assembly. As a Jack Kent Cooke Foundation scholar, Alexandria studied for two summers in the intensive Acting Abroad theatre training program located in the Château le Mont Epinguet near Cherbourg in the Normandy region of France, and just compleTed Brown University's TheatreBridge 2011 summer acting program. Alexandria is starting her fourth year as a member of the Steppenwolf Theatre's Young Adult Council. She lives with her parents in Oak Park and is active in the Sarah's Inn Teen Advisory Project and volunteers at Brooks Middle School as a BRAVO alumna.

Tam Dickson graduated as an honors student from OPRFHS in June and will be entering Illinois State University in the fall to study acting and English. Tam also began acting at an early age, appearing as Tzeitel in Fiddler on the Roof and as a teenager in Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story, both with Village Players. At OPRFHS, she played Nora in Ibsen's A Doll's House and Amanda Wingfield in The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams. This past spring, Tam directed Alexandria Frisch as Becca in David Lindsay-Abaire's Rabbit Hole. Also a member of Steppenwolf Theatre's Young Adult Council, Tam studied acting at the Boston University Summer Theatre Institute under Bill Gardiner. She studies voice in Chicago with John Komasa. Tam lives with her parents in River Forest.

Oak Park resident Kevin O'Brien, who plays the Archbishop of Canterbury and King Charles VI of France in Henry V, served as Alexandria's coach for the ESU competition and will oversee the August 14 presentation. Kevin also serves as an assistant coach of the OPRFHS Speech Team.

Henry V runs through August 20 in Austin Gardens in the 100 block of N. Forest Ave. in Oak Park. Performances are Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 p.m. and Sundays at 7:00 p.m. Please see OakParkFestival.com for the complete show schedule and to purchase tickets. Ticket prices are $25 for adults and $20 for students and seniors. Tickets may be also purchased by calling the box office at 708-445-4440 or by emailing Tickets@OakParkFestival.com.

Oak Park Festival Theatre-Oak Park's only Equity theatre and the Midwest's oldest professional theatre performing the classics outdoors-is proud to present its 37th year of theatrical excellence and to provide Chicagoland with the greatest classical plays ever written. Since 1975, the greatest playwrights have illumined our stage and enlightened our audiences. More information on Oak Park Festival Theatre is available at OakParkFestival.com or by calling 708-445-4440.