Highcliff Students Win Pittsburgh Public Theater Shakespeare Contest

North Hills School District students took top honors in the 2013 Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest sponsored by the Pittsburgh Public Theater.

Highcliff Elementary School sixth-graders Joey Belanger, Tanner Schmitt and Ryan Showalter won the contest’s lower division for performers in grades four to seven. They topped other students from Pittsburgh School for the Creative and Performing Arts, Marshall Middle School in North Allegheny School District and Hoover Elementary School in Mt. Lebanon School District in the finalist showcase after advancing in the preliminary round.

A record-setting nearly 1,200 students participated in the yearly contest that is open to elementary, middle and high school students in grades four to 12. A fraction of the students are chosen as finalists and only three winners are selected for each the monologue and scene contests.

To prepare for the contest, the trio rehearsed and memorized a scene from "The Comedy of Errors." The piece was required to be under five minutes, and the trio practiced under the tutelage of Highcliff Elementary librarian Doris Stupka weekly for three months during recess and after school. To reach the finalist round, the trio performed their scene at the O’Reilly Theater before a panel of distinguished judges and outshone their peers to earn an invitation to perform in front of a different panel of judges.

This year was the second year of competition for Joey and Ryan, and the first year of participation by Tanner.

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