The August Wilson Monologue Competition, celebrating its 13th year, announces details for 2022, including the return of “Designing August,” the scenic and costume design arm of the competition, for its second year. The free competition serves more than 300 high school students annually with competition, master classes and college scholarships. After two preliminary rounds, twenty finalists in the monologue category will be invited to compete at the Goodman Theatre on May 2, 2022 at 6pm. The “Designing August” winners will also be announced at the finals.
The August Wilson Monologue Competition is free for participants. Details about competition are available at https://chicagoplays.com/august-wilson-monologue-competition/.
The August Wilson Monologue Competition is presented by Derrick Sanders and Goodman Theatre, in collaboration with the League of Chicago Theatres.
The 2022 competition schedule is as follows:
February 7-March 4: School applications due for teachers and administrators to apply for their students online.
February 22-March 15: Student Applications for acting and design deadline
March 21: Final designs due
March 21-March 23: Monologue Preliminary Auditions at Roosevelt University and Logan Center for the Arts
April 18: Semi-Final Monologue Auditions at Victory Gardens Theater
April 23: Masterclass, coaching for finalists
May 2 at 6pm: Final Monologue and Design Competition at Goodman Theatre
Open to Chicago area high school students, the competition gives students an opportunity to explore and share the richness of August Wilson’s Century Cycle and to expose a new generation of creative minds to the life’s work and artistic legacy of this seminal American playwright.
Program participants from around Chicago will encounter Wilson’s ten-play cycle and receive coaching from teaching artists to prepare their monologues for competition. Producing Director, Derrick Sanders, and Associate Director, Charlique C. Rolle, hope to continue building robust partnerships with schools across Chicago, creating educational opportunities that allow students to connect to August Wilson and his work through the study of history, social studies and literature.
In December 2020, Netflix released Giving Voice, a full-length documentary about the national August Wilson Monologue Competition and the importance and influence of Wilson’s work on the students. The inspirational film features footage of the Chicago Monologue Competition and Derrick Sanders, along with interviews of Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, and Stephen Henderson. The film’s trailer is available here.
For more information about the Chicago competition, visit: https://chicagoplays.com/august-wilson-monologue-competition/.
About the Century Cycle
August Wilson’s Century Cycle is a singular achievement in American theatre. Each of the ten world-class plays is set in a different decade of the twentieth century. At the plays’ core are soaring, lyrical monologues that take the rich song, laughter, and pain of the African American experience and place it in the mouths of the most varied ensemble of characters written since Shakespeare. The plays of the Century Cycle are: Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf.
About Goodman Theatre
Called America’s “Best Regional Theatre” by Time magazine, Goodman Theatre (Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer) has won international recognition for its artists, productions and programs, and is a major cultural, educational and economic pillar in Chicago. Founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, Goodman Theatre has garnered hundreds of awards for artistic achievement and community engagement, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards (including “Outstanding Regional Theatre” in 1992), nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards and more. Goodman Theatre was the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in Wilson’s acclaimed Century Cycle—including world premiere productions of Seven Guitars (1995) and Gem of the Ocean (2003). Visit GoodmanTheatre.org.
About Chicago theatre
Chicago theatre is the leader in the U.S. with more than 250 theatres throughout Chicagoland, comprising a rich and varied community ranging from storefront, non-union theatres to the most renowned resident theatres in the country, including 5 which have been honored with Regional Tony Awards, and the largest touring Broadway organization in the nation. Chicago’s theatres serve 5 million audience members annually and have a combined budget of more than $250 million. Chicago typically produces and/or presents more world premieres annually than any other city in the nation. Each year Chicago theatres send new work to resident theatres across the country, to Broadway, and around the world.
League of Chicago Theatres’ Mission Statement
Theatre is essential to the life of a great city and to its citizens. The League of Chicago Theatres is an alliance of theatres which leverages its collective strength to support, promote, and advocate for Chicago’s theatre industry. Through our work, we ensure that theatre continues to thrive in our city.