In one of the many traditions at Coronado High, the freshman English classes bring Shakespeare to life each spring. The rite of passage for all freshmen challenges them to memorize and recite a monologue from any Shakespeare play. Every English teacher must give their students this assignment to be performed in front of their English class.
“There are several purposes of assigning this task. One is to get students more familiar with Shakespeare. Another is to refine the students’ ability to concentrate and memorize, and another is to give them practice with recitation, which we don’t do very much anymore, but it is an excellent skill to have,” says English teacher, Ms. Pehrsson.
Students are graded on how well they knew their monologue, how well they were able to enter the character, and the depth of understanding they showed for what was actually written by the playwright. This can be shown through the emphasis on specific lines and words throughout the performance. Those who excelled were chosen by their peers and teachers to continue on to the Shakespeare Festival that took place on Wednesday, April 26.
One or two students from every section of English 9 performed on stage in front of the entire freshman class. A wide variety of monologues from various Shakespearean plays were recited. From the classic tragedy of Romeo and Juliet to the early comedy of Love’s Labour’s Lost, the audience was able to experience the many different sides of Shakespeare. English teacher, Mr. Chao, was also featured in the assembly and gave the freshmen an outstanding performance from one of Shakespeare’s histories, Henry V.
In between the two rounds of competition, the Sophomore CoSA Musical Theater students gave the audience a taste of Shakespeare comedy. They reenacted two scenes from the play A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a widely-acclaimed comedy. The first was the chaos created by the jestful fairy character Puck among the mortal Athenians, who all fell in love with the wrong person. The second was the comical play within the play that is interpreted as a rendition of Romeo and Juliet.
After hearing a plethora of Shakespearean writing, the three judges then had to decide who would be the runners-up of the competition and who would be the winner. The following performers were placed at this year’s festival:
- Spencer Gerber (Portrayed Mark Antony from Julius Caesar)
- Kaia Buglar (Portrayed Mark Antony from Julius Caesar)
- Rachel Brauer (Portrayed Benvolio from Romeo and Juliet)
- Maya Vidal (Portrayed Helena from All’s Well That Ends Well)
- Elizabeth Faulkner (Portrayed Romeo from Romeo and Juliet)
Many of these competitors are CoSA Musical Theater students, who have much experience with acting and brought to life the characters within the plays. Both Spencer Gerber and Kaia Buglar gave very convincing and powerful performances of the loyal friend to Julius Caesar, Mark Antony. When asked what it was he was trying to achieve within the monologue, Kaia Buglar said, “I was trying to convey the anger and sadness that Mark Antony was portraying by crescendoing my voice throughout the speech. I started out soft, and I built up volume so at the very last moment my voice projected very loud. Then, I took a dramatic pause, and at the very end, I let the character break down. I did this to show his vulnerability, which was a different side of him in that monologue.” The scene he portrayed was after Julius Caesar died where he gave a speech to the public defending his friend and shaming another character named Brutus.
This Shakespeare event tradition continues year after year and the English Department looks forward to watching these breathtaking performances every time.
