All the World’s a Stage: WHS Student David Tracy in Shakespeare Competition

Winthrop High School (WHS) senior, David Tracy, will be representing the school at the English Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition on January 26, 2013, with a performance of a monologue from the Shakespearean tragedy, Coriolanus, and sonnet 29.

He chose the Coriolanus speech after being moved by the play during Shakespeare on the Common in Boston during the summer.

“It is a heated monologue, and has an emotional attachment to it,” says David. “I chose sonnet 29 because it had two different emotions: self-pity, and talking to a lover.”

As an assignment for his Advanced Drama class, he analyzed each line to decipher the meaning of the text, developed the emotional pattern, and finally combined the passion and the message. His method for memorization is multitasking – like tossing around a ball — while learning his lines, so his mind is focused on two things at once.

The animated and endearing student has been enrolled in drama courses for all four years, practicing improvisation, acting, and stage combat, “how to fight on stage without hurting each other and making it sound and look realistic,” David says.

David has engaged in surrealism drama and pantomiming; he gathering a group of friends in the cafeteria to demonstrate a fluid water movement piece. He has performed plays for young students that illustrated concepts that they were learning in school, as well.

“It was about bucket filling and bucket dipping,” David describes about one of the plays. “Bucket filling was about doing nice things for people; it gets full and you feel good. Bucket dipping is when you do something mean, dip into that person’s bucket of self-esteem, and everybody feels bad.”

In addition, the National Honor Society member has collaborated with a peer mentoring program for special needs students at WHS. One activity involved writing a Christmas parody about WHS together.

Twenty-five schools will be competing Saturday, and the contestants will have an opportunity at the end to speak with the judges and receive feedback about their performances.

“I’ve always liked the language of Shakespeare because it’s a more eloquent way of speaking,” adds David.