By Anne W. Semmes
On a summery Sunday afternoon, the ladies showed up wearing their hats as customary for the annual English-Speaking Union (ESU) of the United States royal Birthday Celebration. This year was a first for His Majesty King Charles III’s 75th birthday with 150 attendees gathered at the Belle Haven Club, raising their glasses of champagne in a toast to His Majesty’s honor.
But also celebrated were the four high school winners of the ESU’s 2023 Shakespeare Competition, from grades 9-12 across the state, including Greenwich Academy Honorable Mention student Kira Jones. Present of the four was First Place winner, rising senior Ell Zirolli from Hall High School in W. Hartford, who entertained attendees with her winsome and athletic take on the character Bottom’s monologue from Shakespeare’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”
The other two winners were shared by Anne Elser, Shakespeare Chair: Second place, Gabrielle Tapper, of Norwalk High School, and Third place to Theodore Zucconi, of ACES Educational Center for the Arts in New Haven.
“I had the pleasure of attending this year’s competition in person,” said guest of honor Darryl McCormick, ESU National Vice Chairman, “And I was in awe of every single student [with 17 contestants]. I thought to myself that I could never be a judge for this event. Everyone was so magnificent.”
McCormick sketched out a profile of King Charles III, as, “A reserved man of great intelligence. King Charles is the oldest living monarch to ever take the British throne. He celebrated his official birthday on horseback, participating in the annual [June] Trooping the Color event.” He added, “He’s a keen painter of watercolors, a qualified diver and pilot, and of course, known for his charitable endeavors.”
Natalie Pray, who has hosted the Greenwich Branch ESU meetings since 1996, introduced the ESU Education Chairman Bridget Barry, who told of three teachers being given scholarships to study in the United Kingdom this year. “A central commitment of the ESU,” she said, “is education and continuing learning. We are so happy that our branch grant is sending three teachers to study this summer and just think about how many teachers that they can teach when they come back and all the students that will benefit from that.”
Two of those three teachers, both of whom teach at Greenwich High School (GHS), were present and were introduced. “My name is Courtney Hawes, and I am eternally grateful for this opportunity. Not only do I teach modern world literature, but I now get to be a student, my favorite role, in being a teacher. From T.S. Eliot to Ford Maddox Ford, to James Joyce…, I’m going to step into the shoes of a student so that I can be a better teacher, and I have you to thank.”
Also teaching English at GHS is Laura Blumenthal Burdick who shared her never having studied abroad in college. “I didn’t want to miss a semester on campus, so about 20 plus-years too late, I’m finally getting the opportunity to study abroad. I’m going to be taking a contemporary literature course, focused on literature from the UK and reading all new authors that I’ve never read before. Thank you all.”
A bigger picture of that Shakespeare competition was given by Karen Karpowich, ESU’s national executive director. “This year it was very exciting because it was the first time that we were back in person doing our National Shakespeare Competition. So, the students had an incredible opportunity to perform at Juilliard at Lincoln Center…The parents were there, seeing their students perform.” Contestants were treated to a bus tour of New York City, a Shakespeare workshop, and a Broadway play, “The Show That Goes Wrong.”
“We had 41 students from throughout the United States, she told, adding that through the program’s 40 years it had now impacted over a 100,000 students. But what most impressed Karpowich this year was observing this generation of students, “always accused of being on social media with their noses in their phones…using language and interacting with each other in a very personal and profound way. It was a testament to who they are and what they’re going to bring to the future.”
A surprise guest was ESU’s southern-based National Chairman, Dr. Quinn Peeper, a New Orleans obstetrician-gynecologist, and concert pianist. “It’s a great privilege to be here again,” said Peeper who presided last year. He credited “another JetBlue flight cancelation” and the kindness of Karpowich for fetching him to the Belle Haven meeting.
“This is an exciting time for the ESU,” he told, “For in two weeks the ESU Patron Program is going to relaunch and we are going on the Queen Mary 2 from New York to Southampton. And Ms. Natalie Pray is going to join us. We’re taking a total of 21 people. It’s going to be an exciting seven-day journey, three nights of black tie. But I think you have to look pretty spiffy on every other occasion.”
Patrons will be visiting “stately homes and gardens…. and it’s all about Shakespeare,” he shared. “The theme of the trip is the bard’s queens aboard the Queen. And my Shakespeare professor is joining us and she’s going to lead us into some real fun and bawdy discussions on Shakespeare and Elizabethan England. Next year we are going to Italy. Shakespeare wrote so many plays in Italy and we’re going to start in Venice with “The Merchant of Venice” and “Othello.” Then we’re moving to the countryside to look at Palladian Villas and have more Shakespeare and more fun. I hope you’ll all join us.”
