National Finalists Named For 2019 August Wilson Monologue Competition Held At Taper

Center Theatre Group has named Dejean Deterville, Mylah Eaton and Daniel Velez as the top performers of the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC) Regional Finals held at the Mark Taper Forum on March 11, 2019. Deterville and Eaton will go on to represent Los Angeles in the national finals on May 6.

Dejean Deterville of South Carolina Virtual Charter School has placed first in the regional competition, earning a $500 scholarship; Mylah Eaton of CHAMPS Charter High School of the Arts took second place with a $400 scholarship; and Daniel Velez of Ramón C. Cortines High School of Visual and Performing Arts took third place and a $300 scholarship. Both Deterville and Eaton 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. Velez will serve as the Los Angeles alternate.

This is the eighth 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.