On Feb. 27, New Hyde Park Memorial High School sophomore Brooke Cradin competed in the National Shakespeare Recitation Competition at the New York Public Library in Manhattan.
In order to qualify for the regional competition, Cradin competed in and won New Hyde Park’s school-wide contest on Feb. 5. About 20 New Hyde Park students took part in the school-wide competition.
In order to qualify to compete, students must memorize and recite both a Shakespearean soliloquy and sonnet. Students are judged based on their knowledge of the material as well as theirdramatic interpretations of the words themselves.
At the regional competition, Cradin performed Helena’s soliloquy from A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Sonnet 71. The regional contest spanned three days, with approximately 25 local winners performing each day.
Schools from New York City, Long Island and Westchester competed together.
The competition is sponsored nationally by The English Speaking Union, a group that encourages and supports Shakespeare education in schools.
Each day, four winners were chosen to move on to the City-wide contest which took place on Tuesday, March 5 at Lincoln Center.
Although Cradin did not progress beyond the regional competition, local competition organizer, English teacher Michael Stencel, could not be more proud of his winning student, “She really hit it out of the park. Brooke is clearly comfortable on stage and I knew she wouldperform well in New York.”
