The 36th Annual National Shakespeare Competition, hosted by the English-Speaking Union, has attracted more than 325,000 young scholars to express themselves through Shakespearean language since its formation in 1982.

The competition consists of three stages: school, branch community, and national levels. Each participant is required to memorize and perform a monologue from one of Shakespeare’s 38 plays,as well as a sonnet from Shakespeare’s 154 sonnet cycle.

This year, three students from Archbishop Riordan participated in the competition at the school level: Estefan Granucci ’19, Conor Hoelsken ’19, and Andrei Lynch ’22.

Granucci performed Iago’s soliloquy from Othello, recognized by the phrase “I hate the Moor,”and Sonnet 116, which begins with “Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments.”

Granucci advanced to the community stage, where 12 other schools in the ESU Branch participated. The judges narrowed down the finalists to five, where Granucci was the only male among them. The finals were then narrowed down to first, second, and third place; Granucci did not place in the top three.

Granucci said, “With Shakespeare, the most important part about performing is to give justice to what is written and to be able to articulate both the emotion and language with ease. Overall, I was happy with making it to the semifinals and being able to share my work.”