Center Theatre Group Names Three Local Students For AWMC National Finals

Center Theatre Group has named Hannah Franklin, Gerardo Navarro and Jackson Lewis as the top performers of the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) Regional Finals held at the Mark Taper Forum on March 5, 2018. Hannah Franklin and Gerardo Navarro will go on to represent Los Angeles in the national finals on May 7.

Hannah Franklin of Orange County School of the Arts has placed first in the competition, earning a $500 scholarship; Gerardo Navarro of Ramon C. Cortines School for the Visual and Performing Arts took second place with a $400 scholarship; and Jackson Lewis of Agoura High School took third place and a $300 scholarship. Both Franklin and Navarro will also receive a paid trip to New York City to perform on the stage of the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway. They will compete in a semi-final round with 22 other students from cities around the country. Fifteen of those students will be selected for the national finals while the other nine will be part of a performance montage. Lewis will serve as the Los Angeles alternate.

This is the seventh consecutive year Center Theatre Group is hosting the Southern California component of the national monologue competition. The program is designed to inspire and educate Los Angeles youth using monologues from August Wilson's "American Century Cycle," a 10-play cycle that details the complexity of the African American experience in the 20th century.