MONOLOGUE & SCENE GUIDELINES
Students in grades 4-12 are invited to participate as part of their school or an activity group with a monologue or scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Students are split into the lower division (grades 4-7) and upper division (grades 8-12) for judging purposes. Participating groups receive a free workshop with one of our talented teaching artists and a contest T-shirt.
CONTEST RULES
REGISTRATION: All schools/groups must be properly registered, in advance, in order to perform in the preliminary rounds. All students must have a school or participating community group as a sponsor for their participation. Independents will be considered based on circumstance. Please note: All students must have a parent or guardian complete a participation waiver in order to compete in our preliminary rounds.
ELIGIBLE GROUPS: The Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest is open to all schools and groups in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and West Virginia within a 100 mile radius to Pittsburgh Public Theater.
ENTRIES: Students can perform in either one monologue or scene. Students are strongly discouraged from repeating material they performed in the past. Winners from the previous year may not participate in the same category (i.e., last year's monologue winners may only participate in a scene, and last year's scene winners may only participate in a monologue).
WORKSHOPS: Each school group is encouraged to participate in a free workshop with one of our talented teaching artists. More details will be sent after registration.
MONOLOGUE & SCENE GUIDELINES
LENGTH OF MONOLOGUE/SCENE: Monologues are restricted to 2-3 minute (approx. 20-50 lines) and scenes to 3-4 minutes (approx. 80 lines, but adherence to time is more important than number of lines). No performance may exceed 5 minutes. Judges will enforce this guideline.
COSTUMES, SETS, & PROPS: Students are encouraged to focus upon their performance and understanding of the text, so costumes & props should be kept to a minimum. No set pieces are permitted. A bench and chairs will be provided by The Public.
MEMORIZATION: all pieces must be completely memorized; no prompting.
SKIP the accent! We want to hear YOUR VOICE.
REGISTRATION FOR THE 2025 CONTEST IS OFFICIALLY OPEN.