Melissa Murphy wins Michigan Shakespeare Festival High School Monologue Contest

First-place winner Melissa Murphy

Home-schooled student Melissa Murphy of Southgate, MI was named first-place winner of the 2010 Michigan Shakespeare Festival High School Monologue Contest yesterday (July 31, 2010) for her presentation of Hero's Act III, scene 1 "lapwing" speech from Much Ado About Nothing. Several Oberon members attended the contest finals at Jackson Community College and all concurred with the judges' choice of Murphy who showed poise, projection, and maturity in her command of her body and theatrical space. Murphy won a monetary prize of $350 and a Michigan Shakespeare Festival jacket.

Second-place winner Lonnie Robinson wears his MSF prize jacket.

Charismatic Lonnie Robinson of Ecorse, MI won second-place for his powerful and passionate presentation of a speech from Julius Caesar. Robinson was one of seven students of Ecorse Community High School teacher Dr. James Allen Jones who presented at competition semi-finals in Ann Arbor. Jones' student Stephen D. Steffan II placed fourth in the finals -- behind third-place winner Caitlin Dunlap of Onstead, MI -- with his powerful interpretation of Iago. Oberon hopes to host Dr. Allen and his students at an upcoming Oberon meeting.

Dr. James Allen Jones and Mrs. Jones at MSF Monologue Contest finals at Jackson Community College, July 31, 2010.

First-place winner Melissa Murphy was coached by Carol-Ann Black, artistic director of Big Girl Productions in Allen Park. Black's company is currently presenting Midsummer Night's Dream at 8 p.m. August 6 and 7 at the Royal Majestic Theater inside Trillium Academy, 15740 Racho Road in Taylor. Murphy also directs Shakespearean troupes of young students. Contact her at 734-771-2515 for more information.

Acting coach Carol-Ann Black

Comments

What's a popp'rin' pear?

James Wheaton reported yesterday in the Jackson Citizen Patriot that the Michigan Shakespeare Festival high school tour of Romeo and Juliet was criticized for inappropriate content -- " So me take issue with sexual innuendoes in Michigan Shakespeare Festival’s High School Tour performances of ‘Romeo & Juliet’" : Western [High School] parent Rosie Crowley said she was upset when she heard students laughing about sexual content in the play afterwards. Her son didn’t attend the performance Tuesday because of another commitment, she said. “I think the theater company should have left out any references that were rated R,” Crowley said. “I would say that I’ve read Shakespeare, and what I was told from the students, I’ve never read anything that bad.” She said she objected to scenes that involved pelvic thrusting and breast touching and to a line in which Mercutio makes suggestive comments to Romeo after looking up the skirt of a female. The problem with cutting out the naug

Winkler lights the match

by Linda Theil When asked by an interviewer why all the experts disagree with her on the legitimacy of the Shakespeare authorship question, journalist and author Elizabeth Winkler calmly replied, "You've asked the wrong experts." * With that simple declaration Winkler exploded the topic of Shakespearean authorship forever. Anti-Stratfordians need no smoking gun, no convincing narrative, no reason who, how, when, or why because within the works lies the unassailable argument: Shakespeare's knowledge. Ask the lawyers. Ask the psychologists. Ask the librarians. Ask the historians. Ask the dramaturges. Ask the mathematicians. Ask the Greek scholars. Ask the physicists. Ask the astronomers. Ask the courtiers. Ask the bibliophiles. Ask the Italians. Ask the French. Ask the Russians. Ask the English. Ask everyone. Current academic agreement on a bevy of Shakespearean collaborators springs from an unspoken awareness of how much assistance the Stratfordian presumptive would h

Dudley nails it to the door

Michael Dudley author of The Shakespeare Authorship Question and Philosphy: Knowledge, Rhetoric, Identity (Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2023) Michael Dudley views his vocation of librarian at the University of Manitoba with dialectic rigor. "Librarianship has a duty to inform democracy," he said in Kathryn Sharpe's virtual bookclub on April 27, 2024. Dudley discussed his new book The Shakespeare Authorship Question and Philosophy: Knowledge, Rhetoric, Identity published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing last fall. Update 08/21/24 Dudley's book is also available as an ebook from Google Play . In SAQ and Philosophy Dudley uses the hammer of logic to nail his accusations against the barricaded door of the Shakespeare citadel. "The question of Shakespeare's authorship is a malformed debate practiced in an unethical fashion," Dudley said. When asked why his book is important, Dudley said: "What sets my book apart from others on the authorship quest

Oberon Shakespeare Study Group

Search This Blog