NEWS Walnut Valley Unified School District
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 880 S. Lemon Avenue
March 8, 2012 Walnut, CA 91789
Contact:
Kelli Gile, Office of Community Resources
(909) 595-1261 ext. 31204
Walnut High drama student named finalist in monologue competition
WALNUT, CA--Walnut High School junior EJ Cabasal has been named a finalist in the August Wilson Monologue Competition (AWMC).
Fifteen Finalists will compete in the inaugural Los Angeles County Regional Finals of the AWMC on March 26 at the Mark Taper Forum.
The competition is sponsored by the Center Theatre Group (CTG).
EJ has had leads in several productions and has already received numerous acting awards, said Drama Teacher Joanne Karr.
The finalists were chosen after competing at the California Educational Theatre Association High School Theatre Festival on January 14 in Anaheim.
Among the 86 participants who competed, 31 schools and 37 different cities were represented. The competition was open to students in grades 10-12 in Los Angeles, Ventura, Orange, Riverside and San Bernardino Counties.
Each student selected a monologue to perform from August Wilson’s 10-play “Century Cycle,” an epic dramatization of the African-American experience in the 20th century.
This is the first time that Southern California students are participating in the AWMC as CTG joins the national competition with theatres from Atlanta, New York, Chicago, Boston, Seattle and Pittsburgh. Each city runs the program differently, but the goal is the same: to introduce high school students to August Wilson’s works and help them find their own voices.
The top three Southern California regional finalists chosen in March will compete in the fifth annual AWMC national finals, to be held on May 7 at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway.
Shown:
EJ Cabasal, shown in the Walnut High School production of “Flowers For Algernon” has been named a finalist in the August Wilson Monologue Competition.