2019-20 August Wilson Monologue Competition Heats Up

Dallas Region Prelims set for January 11, Finals set for February 15 at SMU Meadows

A record number of schools from throughout Texas will gather at SMU Meadows School of the Arts on Saturday, January 11 to compete in the preliminary round of the fifth annual Dallas Region August Wilson Monologue Competition. High school students from Dallas, Houston, Fort Bend, La Vega, Fort Worth, Denton and many more Texas independent school districts will take the stage and deliver two- to three-minute monologues from the body of work by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright August Wilson. Finalists of the January 11 round will advance to the regional finals on February 15 for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City, awarded to the top two contenders who then go on to compete with regional winners from 11 other cities in the national finals at the August Wilson Theatre on Broadway in May.

August Wilson (1945-2005) is an American playwright best known for the “Century Cycle,” a collection of 10 plays about the African American experience in the twentieth century. Most are set in the Hill District of Pittsburgh where Wilson grew up. 

Over the past five years and with the help of scholarships, three students who competed in the August Wilson competitions went on to enroll at SMU. Bonnie Scott (B.F.A. Theatre ’20) was the first-place winner of the inaugural Dallas region event in 2015-16; Stakiah Washington (B.F.A. Theatre ’21) was the second-place Dallas Region winner in 2016-17; and Trajan Clayton (B.F.A. Theatre ’23) was the winner of the national August Wilson Monologue Competition in 2018-19.

Founded in 2007, the national August Wilson Monologue Competition works to introduce new generations of creative minds to the life’s work and artistic legacy of August Wilson. The Dallas Region event of the national August Wilson Monologue Competition is sponsored by SMU Meadows School of the Arts. National presenters are True Colors Theatre Company of Atlanta and Jujamcyn Theaters of New York. National sponsors are Delta and Aetna.

Admission to the Preliminary Round and the Finals is free and open to the public.

• Read more about the Dallas Region Preliminary Round and Finals days, times and locations.
• Read more about the annualAugust Wilson Monologue Competition.
• Read more aboutAugust Wilson.
• Read more aboutSMU Meadows Division of TheatreandAssociate Professor Benard Cummings.