Saint Patrick junior Xach Lightner recently came in third place in the Chicago branch of the English Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition. The competition was held at Navy Pier, home of the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, on February 24. Lightner performed Shakespeare’s Sonnet 116 (Let me not to marriage of true minds admit impediments), and 20 lines from Marc Antony’s “revenge monologue” in “Julius Ceasar.” Competing against students representing 21 other Chicagoland schools, Lightner was the only non-senior selected as one of the nine finalists.

Lightner earned his spot in the Chicago branch competition by winning the Saint Patrick High School Shakespeare competition. Lightner is the first Shamrock to place in this competition in a decade.

The English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition is a curriculum-based program designed to help high school students develop their understanding of Shakespeare and their ability to communicate that understanding. Through the program, students study, memorize and interpret monologues and sonnets in three qualifying stages: at the school, community, and national levels.

Initiated in 1983 with 500 students in New York City, the Competition has given more than 200,000 young people the opportunity to explore the beauty and scope of the language as well as the timeless themes embodied in Shakespeare’s works. Currently, the program involves 16,000 students and 2,000 teachers in 58 English-Speaking Union Branch communities nationwide. Every April, the winners of the local Branch Competitions come to New York City to take part in the ESU National Shakespeare Competition held at Lincoln Center. In the semi-finals, all contestants perform a monologue and a sonnet on stage. In the last phase of the Competition, those students selected as finalists present a cold reading in addition to their monologues and sonnets.

The winner of the ESU National Shakespeare Competition is awarded a full tuition scholarship to the British American Drama Academy’s Midsummer Conservatory Program in Oxford, England. The runner-up receives $1,000, and third place is awarded $500 by The Shakespeare Society. The ESU National Shakespeare Competition has been recognized by the Globe Center (USA), the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, and the American Academy of Achievement.

Judges for the Competition have included Andre Braugher, Kate Burton, Maurice Charney, Blythe Danner, Colleen Dewhurst, Gerald Freedman, Robert Giroux, Lisa Gay Hamilton, Helen Hayes, Edward Herrmann, Dana Ivey, Peter Francis James, Kristin Linklater, Peter MacNicol, Jesse L. Martin, Elizabeth McGovern, Cynthia Nixon, Geoffrey Owens, Sarah Jessica Parker, Nancy Piccione, Phylicia Rashad, Christopher Reeve, Louis Scheeder, Carole Shelley, Richard Thomas, Courtney B. Vance, Diana Verona, Sam Waterston, and Dianne Wiest.