Chicago August Wilson Competition Winners Announced

The August Wilson Monologue Competition announces the Chicago winners of the 2021 August Wilson Monologue Competition and the new "Designing August" competition.

The top two Chicago Monologue Competition winners will compete in the Nationals, to be held virtually on Monday, May 3 at 5:00pm Central. The National Competition will stream for free and is open to the public. Free tickets are available at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/august-wilson-monologue-competition-national-finals-tickets-152568818443.

In the Monologue category, the Chicago winners are Jonathan Westbrook from Chicago High School for the Performing Arts (first place), Bri'Yon Watts from Southland College Prep (second place) and Jadah Clay from Chicago High School for the Performing Arts (third place). The winners of the Design category were all students from Perspectives Charter School, including Kennedy Hardy for costume design (first place), Courtney Bilbro for set design (second place) and Ania Green for set design (third place). The winners received cash prizes and Jonathan Westbrook and Bri'Yon Watts will advance to the National August Wilson Monologue Competition.

In December 2020, Netflix released Giving Voice, a full-length documentary about the national August Wilson Monologue Competition and the importance and influence of Wilson's work on the students. The inspirational film focusses on of the 2019 Chicago Monologue Competition and Derrick Sanders, along with interviews of Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, and Stephen Henderson. The film's trailer is available here.

The judges for the monologue finals were John Jelks, Sydney Chatman, Morocco Omari, and Danyelle Monson. The judges for the design competition finals were Collette Pollard, Christine Pascual, and Sydney Lynne Thomas.

The August Wilson Monologue Competition is presented by Goodman Theatre and Derrick Sanders, in collaboration with the Department of Performing Arts at The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the League of Chicago Theatres, and True Colors Theatre Company.

Open to Chicago area high school students, the competition gives students an opportunity to explore and share the richness of August Wilson's Century Cycle and incorporates the plays into the standard high school curriculum. Program participants in cities across the country encounter Wilson's ten-play cycle and receive coaching from teaching artists to prepare their monologues for local and national competition. Chicago coordinator Derrick Sanders hopes to continue building robust partnerships with schools across Chicago, creating educational opportunities that allow students to connect to August Wilson and his work through the study of history, social studies and literature.

Cash prizes for the top three Chicago Monologue finalists have been doubled in 2021 since the priceless experience of a trip to New York City to compete has been suspended during the pandemic.

Regional competitions take place in sixteen cities nationwide, including Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Greensboro, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New Haven, New York, Norfolk, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle. Details about the 2021 National Competition are yet to be announced.

For more information about the Chicago competition, visit: https://chicagoplays.com/august-wilson-monologue-competition/.

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