On Jan. 3, Heschel high school students packed into the Roanna Shorofsky Theater to watch members of the Shakespeare club compete in the annual monologue competition. 

In the weeks leading up to the actual contest, students in the Shakespeare club rehearsed and memorized speeches from various plays, often utilizing the weekly clubs block and their lunch periods to practice. While middle school drama teachers Anna Savant and Nick Bombicino and English Department Chair Penny Ratcliffe assisted, it was the students who were primarily responsible for perfecting their performance. 

“I’d say [the monologue] seven times, always go to the same room, do the same routine in the mirror,” said junior Dani Grinker, who won the competition for her performance as Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. 

Despite all of her preparation, Grinker described her anxiety before performing in front of such a large audience: “I was so nervous,” she said. “I sort of black out when I’m [performing], I’m just in a different world.”

Ratcliffe, who organized the event, commended all of the performers for their courage to perform in front of the entire student body. “Once you’ve performed a monologue in front of 400 people, there’s nothing much you can’t do,” she wrote via Email.

Grinker emphasized the importance of keeping Shakespeare alive in the modern day because of how relevant the subject matter remains today. 

“People have always been people with human wants and needs and Shakespeare just articulates that so beautifully, and I think it’s really special for our community to look back in time and see human beings behaving like human beings,” Grinker said.