Winners Chosen in Annual Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest

Michael Henninger took this wonderful photo of Carolyn and the boy she tied with, CAPA’s Logan Schiller. Both had been in the same coaching session with Ken Bolden Saturday morning. (Thank you, Ken!)

Pittsburgh Public Theater’s 23rd annual Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest that began Feb. 6 with more than 1,000 student participants culminated Monday night, when winners were crowned after the Showcase of Finalists. In the Monologue competition, there was a tie for the top spot in the Upper Division (grades eight through 12): Carolyn Jerz, who is home-schooled, as Eleanor in “Henry VI, Part Two,” shared the win with Pittsburgh CAPA’s Logan Shiller as Iago in “Othello.” In the Lower Division (grades four through seven), Jaylen Hocker of Jefferson Elementary School won as Shylock in “The Merchant of Venice.” In the Scene contest, Lower Division, Ethan Atta, John Bence, Henry Dingle, Michael Liguori and Jackson Vollmer of Aquinas Academy emerged the winners for a scene from “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and the Upper Division scene winners were Ryan Horn and Cassi Smith of Magnolia High School in West Virginia, as Petruchio and Katherina in “The Taming of the Shrew.” —Pittsburgh Post Gazette