The August Wilson Monologue Competition announces the finalists for the 2021 August Wilson Monologue Competition and the new “Designing August” competition. The Chicago finals will be held virtually on March 22, 2021 at 6pm. Each year, hundreds of high schoolers compete for a chance to represent Chicago in the national competition, which will also be held virtually this year.
After two preliminary rounds, the twenty finalists in the monologue competition include, from Chicago High School for the Performing Arts: Johnathan Westbrook, Jadah Clay, Enama Samuels, Siah Berlatsky; from Harper High School: David Brown, Nakila Evans; from Southland College Prep: Nyah Ware, Bri'Yon Watts, Thomas Kelly, Soley Haggard; from Gallery 37: Patriana Scales, Layla Freeman; from Senn High School: Serenity Givens Sheets, Ramiyah Lee, Marshea Shane and Avery Luciano; and from Kenwood High School: Donald Pieters.
The “Designing August” finalists are, from Northtown Academy: Dominic Cosentino and Dominique Harrison; and from Perspectives Leadership Academy: Ania Green, Sincere Love, Courtney Bilbro, Daniel Jones, Kennedy Hardy and Noah Gilliams.
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 focusses on of the 2019 Chicago Monologue Competition and Derrick Sanders, along with interviews of Viola Davis, Denzel Washington, and Stephen Henderson. The film’s trailer is available here.
The judges for the monologue finals are: John Jelks, Sydney Chatman, Morocco Omari, and Danyelle Monson. The judges for the design competition finals are: Collette Pollard Whitteveen, Christine Pascual, and Sydney Lynne Thomas.
The August Wilson Monologue Competition is presented by Goodman Theatre and Derrick Sanders, in collaboration with the Department of Performing Arts at The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC), the League of Chicago Theatres, and True Colors Theatre Company.
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 incorporates the plays into the standard high school curriculum. Program participants in cities across the country encounter Wilson’s ten-play cycle and receive coaching from teaching artists to prepare their monologues for local and national competition. Chicago coordinator Derrick Sanders hopes 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.
Cash prizes for the top three Chicago Monologue finalists have been doubled in 2021 since the priceless experience of a trip to New York City to compete has been suspended during the pandemic.
Regional competitions take place in sixteen cities nationwide, including Atlanta, Boston, Buffalo, Chicago, Dallas, Greensboro, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Milwaukee, New Haven, New York, Norfolk, Pittsburgh, Portland, San Diego, and Seattle. Details about the 2021 National Competition are yet to be announced.
Chicago’s August Wilson Monologue Competition is sponsored by Allstate Insurance Company.
For more information about the Chicago competition, visit: https://chicagoplays.com/august-wilson-monologue-competition/.
About Giving Voice
A new generation of performers is discovered in Giving Voice, which follows the emotional 
journey of six students as they advance through the high-stakes August Wilson Monologue Competition, an event which celebrates one of America’s preeminent playwrights. Every year, thousands of students from cities across the United States perform the Pulitzer Prize winner’s work (Fences, Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom) for a shot to perform on Broadway. Directors Jim Stern and Fernando Villena capture students discovering themselves and the world around them through Wilson’s “Century Cycle,” a canon of ten plays portraying the 20th century African American experience. Executive producer Viola Davis, along with Fences co-star Denzel Washington, share the impact that Wilson’s timeless artistry and legacy has had on their careers and their hopes for the young people carrying it forward. Winner of the Festival Favorite Award at the 2020 Sundance Film Festival, Giving Voice is an Endgame Entertainment and Pilgrim Media Group Production in association with Endeavor Content, Impact Partners, Get Lifted Film Co and JuVee Productions.
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 produces and/or presents more world premieres annually than any other city in the nation. Typically, Chicago theatre companies produce more than 100 world premiere productions and adaptations each year and 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.