2009 Winner's Experience: Karel Ebergen, Lowell High School
In a nutshell New York was AMAZING!
I checked in with the English-Speaking Union in New York in the late afternoon of Saturday where they informed us of the weekend’s activities and gave us our room keys. I was nervous that the other competitors would be like actors you see on TV, but everyone was nice, friendly, and extremely theater-orientated. I was finally with my own kind. After we all introduced ourselves, we went to our rooms and slept.
The next day there was a whole list of activities: First we had a tour of New York in a double-decker bus. After the tour of New York we went to go see "Waiting for Godot" with Nathan Lane, John Goodman, Bill Irwin and John Glover. It was a terrific production, and it was wonderful to see four celebrity actors on stage. After that, we went to NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and had a theater workshop which involved improv and team-building exercises. Then we went back to the hostel where everyone was jittery since the competition was the next day.
We woke up at 5:45 a.m. (ugh) and went to the famous and utterly amazingly superb and fantastic LINCOLN CENTER to compete. This was definitely the highlight of the trip. All the competitors were outstanding; being one of the judges must be one of the worst jobs in the world since everyone who performed deserved to get to finals. Then we had lunch at the Julliard School and took in some sunshine at Central Park before the names of the finalists were posted. Unfortunately, I didn’t make it to the finals, but I didn’t mind, because I was still able to enjoy the experience. Every year during the finals there is a “celebrity” judge and this year it was GENE WILDER! He was so cool.
After the winners were announced, we went out to celebrate. It was a great end to the competition. So now I have 40 new friends on Facebook and some great memories. I wish every weekend was the ESU’s National Shakespeare Competition!
