Ten students competed in the annual Shakespeare competition on Jan. 14.

English department chair, Jill Sprott, said, “Initially, the Shakespeare competition started as an English department focus because a lot of the classes were studying Shakespeare and it was a good way of getting the students involved. However, as our speech program grew, we started to think about the connection between drama and speech. It is also a way of remembering that Shakespeare is not just meant to be read – he’s meant to be heard and you could really see the affiliation.”

For the competition, participants in grades 9 through 12 performed 20 lines of a monologue from any Shakespearean play. The winner of the school competition will for on to compete in the state competition where she performs the monologue and an additional sonnet.

Sprott said, “We didn’t have final results at first because we were really impressed by the degree of talent. We needed more time to figure out who the finalist would be so we took the top three and asked them to repeat their performances the following week.”

The top three finalists included senior Kristen Andres and juniors Shannon Domingsil and Olivia Higgins. Domingsil won first place and will represent the Academy at the state competition on Feb. 21.

Domingsil said, “I’m passionate about acting so I thought that participating in this competition would be a great way to broaden my skills. When I found out that I had won the school competition, I became very excited and also honored to represent my school.”

The state winner earns a trip to the national competition in New York.