Students Recite Speeches for Merrill Prize
“A lost black boys speaks, will you hear my cry, or will you just continue to live your lives while, day after day, we die?”
Staring intently at each member of the Assembly Hall audience, upper Ervin Williams delivered a raw and impassioned rendition of the spoken word poem "A Lost Black Boy Speaks" by Daniel Beaty. Williams’ performance on black identity in America was one of nine monologues and duologues performed during Tuesday’s assembly.
Students of all grades performed for the school body in the 122 year-old Merrill Prize Speaking Competition on April 23. The competitors, who passed the preliminary audition on April 10, presented a diverse assortment of monologues and duologues, ranging from Maia Mayor’s slam poem "Perfect" to Shakespeare’s classic play Macbeth.
The seven monologue performers were upper Ervin Williams, upper Caitlin Sibthorpe, prep Siona Jain, senior Sam Gove, lower Chloe Minicucci, lower Charlie Preston and upper Destiny Rogers. For the duologues, the pairs performing were upper Nick Schwarz and lower Felix Yeung as well as seniors Elliot Diaz and Sarah Hardcastle. As with tradition, all of these finalists were invited to a luncheon at Principal Rawson’s house that same day.
The first Merrill Prize Speaking Competition was hosted on June 6, 1897. The Prize was introduced to the Academy through the generosity of the Abner L. Merrill ’38, the same namesake of Merrill Hall, who sought to support the art of public speaking at Exeter. The results of the competition are traditionally announced at the prize assembly, which occurs during the last week of school.
Cary Wendell, designer and technical director for the Theater Department, one of four preliminary judges, emphasized that contestants needed to have a deep comprehension of the selected piece to be able to translate their interpretation into expression. “If you don’t understand the material, nothing else is going to be right,” Wendell said. “You have to analyze it, almost like literature. And then, somehow, you have to get that understanding resonating in your own person.”
Wendell also noted the power of choices in gestures and movement. “A director would choose to tell an actor to move here, move there,” he observed. “But here the actor is the only making those choices. Not everyone understands the importance of physical expression. Have you translated your understanding into pacing and blocking?”
Lauren Josef, preliminary judge and director and costume designer for the Theater Department, noted that clear enunciation was a must for the monologue performers. “I’m looking for clarity in their voice and delivery so I can know what they’re saying,” she said.
Wendell agreed with Josef, citing projection as a necessary component of clear diction as well. “Being heard is important,” he said. “I’m hearing impaired. So it’s even more important for me to hear what people are saying. And that’s a whole skill by itself—having words coming from inside all the way to people’s ears.”
Josef expressed her happiness on the Speaking Competition coinciding with the beginning of the new Assembly attendance program. “I’m not sure how students felt about that [attendance], but I thought it was really refreshing to see the entire school supporting everybody.”
Prep Siona Jain, who had never attempted dramatic performance before, chose the contemporary play Moving by Lee Kalcheim. Jain emulated a monologue from Megan, a character doubting her faith for the first time. “Religion is a crutch,” Jain declared in character during her monologue. “Not a day goes by where I don’t wake up and wonder if I’m going to find a God today.”
Jain also expressed how she saw the competition as an opportunity. “It was a way for me to perform in front of the school and to try acting,” she said. “For me it wasn’t so much a prize as it was a way for me to try something new.”
For Jain, she chose the piece to reflect her own internal turmoil with religion. “If you guessed from my last name, I practice Jainism, but I always found some things about the religion slightly unrealistic,” she said. “I’ve always had issues on what it really means to be a full Jain, because I, myself, don’t follow all aspects of my religion.”
Senior Samantha Gove performed the poem "Joey" by Neil Hilborn. Joey described two friends both afflicted by mental illnesses, one able to afford their treatment and recover while the other struggled to fight back against their illness. “I can pinpoint the session that brought me back to the world,” announced Gove in the voice of the narrator, “That session cost seventy-five dollars.”
By performing "Joey," Gove intended to bring attention to the often ignored inequity of mental illness. “It’s not just about people being able to ask for help,” she said, “But it’s also the fact that getting medication can be very expensive. It’s [that treatment is] not accessible to everyone.”
Lower Chloe Minicucci performed as titular character Hope in the monologue "Story of Hope" from Almost, Maine by John Cariani. Minicucci had acted in elementary school but only returned to the stage last winter term when she acted in the Wizard of Oz. “Any excuse to get back into acting was a good one for me.” she said.
Minicucci described her selection as, “comedic, but dramatic.” She commented on the “irony in her [Hope’s] name, and how she drained a previous partner’s hope when she left town without answering his marriage proposal.”
Upper Destiny Rogers chose to perform a spoken word poem, "Perfect" by Maia Mayor. “When I first heard it, I cried. It reminded me so much of home. I think the last line is particularly resonant: ‘You have to let me love you so that you can be perfect. Be perfect like me,'’” she said. “It's not like the mother being portrayed in the poem hates her daughter. She's trying to love her, but she doesn't know how, so instead she tries to force her love and her expectations on her daughter.”
Upper Matthew Wabunoha was particularly impressed both by the poem’s relatable content and Rogers’ ability to convey its message. “I thought Destiny was a really good orator. Her voice was really clear, and she expressed her emotions really well. I could tell that she did what she wanted to do with that piece.”
Similarly, Dean Hadley Camilus was moved by Destiny’s performance. Comparing the narrative in "Perfect" to his own parenting, Camilus wondered how his daughter would interpret his desire for her to follow certain norms, such as chewing with her mouth closed or walking more upright. “It’s a real struggle for me because I believe in challenging norms.” he said.
Prep Janessa Vargas expressed her views about the competition as a whole. “Some students might not have the platform or opportunity to share their skills and passions,” she said, “And the competition was a really great opportunity for them.”
Josef concluded that the unifying brilliance of all the performances was the authenticity each performer brought to the stage. “A good performance is a genuine, empathetic performance.”