Students in Teacher Megan Hollinger’s Advanced Acting class traveled to DeSales University on March 4 for the PA Shakespeare Festival’s 9th annual high school competition.

More than 100 students representing 20 public and independent schools spent the day presenting scenes and monologues from Shakespeare’s plays to actors and directors from the professional community. The students also participated in workshops ranging from stage combat, to using Shakespeare’s language, to creating comic characters.

The strongest offerings were chosen to perform in a final showcase, which included two scenes from Abington Friends School: “Measure for Measure,” presented by senior Saria Rosenhaj and junior Drew Jacobson, and “Taming of the Shrew,” presented by seniors Eliana Saxe-Smith and Griffen Lloyd.

At the awards ceremony that followed, Drew received a partial scholarship to DeSales; Drew and Saria won third place in the overall scene category, and the group as a whole took second place in the overall team category. The team consisted of juniors Michael Carpenter, Brian Wang and Cameron Hodges and senior Nicole Morris, in addition to Griffen, Eliana, Saria and Drew.