Riverton High School students performed scenes, monologues and dance interpretations of some of Shakespeare’s greatest works at the 48th annual high school Shakespeare Competition in Cedar City the first weekend of October.

Through the experience of learning, interpreting and performing Shakespeare, they learned that the stories are still relatable and beautiful.

“Shakespeare just really still applies to how we act today—it’s people, it’s human, it’s emotion, and it’s all stuff we still have today—they just had a little bit of different wording to it,” Cade Snarr, a senior, said. “And so when you go in deep, and try to understand what Shakespeare is trying to say, it really is a beautiful art, and there’s a reason we keep it around.” 

 Students said because the language is difficult to understand, performing Shakespeare requires a lot of expression and emotion to help the audience understand what’s going on. RHS drama teacher Clin Eaton tells students that if audiences don’t understand Shakespeare, it’s the actor’s fault.

“Shakespeare’s a different kind of acting,” junior Carter Reid said. “It’s less about the lines you get out and more the meaning behind them, because it’s very interpretive.”

Ethan Hall, a senior, was unfamiliar with Shakespeare when he first attended the competition as a sophomore. He ended up loving it and making lots of friends.

“It’s just a lovely time to spend the weekend with all your best friends, competing in something you love,” he said. “You get to just work close with just amazing people.”

The competition provided students an opportunity to increase their Shakespeare skills through adjudicator feedback, skills workshops and watching performances by professionals and students from some of the 99 participating schools.

“Students learned that performing Shakespeare is a skill, that if you can master it, you can act anything,” Eaton said. “It’s also really fun to watch all of the other students’ performances and make friends with performers from other schools.” 

Even though students are competing against students from other schools within their region and for overall placements, they sincerely cheer one another on, Hall said.

“It’s such a cool culmination of so many people’s dozens of hours of working so hard with each other and I just love to see it all come together,” Hall said. “And talking to people from other schools is really fun. If you purely do it for competitive reasons, you won’t have a good time.”

RHS drama teacher Erin McGuire said they never go down to the competition only focused on winning.

“Is it nice to get a trophy? Absolutely. Is it nice to have the recognition? That is nice. But that’s not our main focus,” she said. “Our focus is the kids learning and growing, having a good time, and being exposed to some amazing performances by other students and by the professional performances down there. That’s why we do it—the education. The competition is second to the education.”

In addition to performance competitions, a Tech Olympics event tested the skills of stage tech students in eight categories.

Everett Johnson, who competed in the Tech Olympics for his second time, said students don’t know the task they’ll be asked to perform until they are in the room with the judges.

“You can’t prepare,” he said. “You show up, you just do the thing and hope you do the best you can.”

RHS’s team has finished in the top three of the Tech Olympics for the past 15 years. This year they placed third overall and earned two individual awards: Tyler Bodell placed first in Sound and Lucy Rowley placed first in Costuming. λ