In celebration of the 400th Anniversary of Shakespeare’s First Folio on the 17th of February, Cistercian Preparatory School hosted an Interscholastic Colloquium on Shakespeare’s plays, Much Ado About Nothing and Hamlet. Schools from across the Metroplex attended, including Hockaday and Fort Worth Country Day. The colloquium has been a reoccurring annual event since 2013 when it was first hosted by Oakridge. This year three Jesuit students, all sophomores, Wallace Archie, Dillon Brandt, and Lachlan Broad, presented at the colloquium. Various members of the English faculty also attended, including Mr. Berry, Dr. Degen, Mrs. Farrell, Mr. Maddox, and Mr. Hauser.
The students each presented essays on Shakespeare’s comedy, Much Ado About Nothing. Drawing upon their knowledge from last year, where the students studied the play in their Honors English 1 or English 1 class, they revised and improved upon their essays from last year for submission. During their presentations, they had to read their essays, which were around a thousand words and took approximately ten minutes to present, and then field questions from other students and participants in the room in the style of a Q&A.
“Presenting my essay to the students from Cistercian was very fulfilling because I was able to hear their insights into the play.” – Wallace Archie ’25
The Colloquium also featured a keynote address from Dr. Travis Curtright. Dr. Curtright is a professor of humanities and literature at Ave Maria College. He founded the Shakespeare in Performance program at the college and also wrote the study Shakespeare’s Dramatic Persons. Dr. Curtright’s keynote address provided interesting insight into how we can interpret Shakespearean literature and apply its meaning to today, including how we are all actors.
The Process
At the start of the semester, Mr. Hauser approached various English classes advertising the upcoming Colloquium with the hopes of some Jesuit students representing the school at the event. Our options were to either write an essay on Shakespeare’s plays Much Ado About Nothing, or Hamlet. The original deadline for the submission of essays was January 16th, a month prior to the Colloquium. After the initial submission, each essay was reviewed by the judging panel which provided feedback. From this feedback, we each revised our essays similar to the revision process for a regular English paper. After this process of revisions and advice from the English department, we each submitted our essays a second time, where three of the four submitted were selected. In my circumstance, I edited and revised my final from Honors English I, a timed write on the role of Don John in the Infernal Terrain. Wallace Archie also revised his paper, whereas Dillon Brandt spent additional time writing a new essay from scratch as he was not in Honors English his freshman year.
In preparation for the competition, we spent community time practicing the presentation of our essays. We read our essays out to each other as well as to Mr. Hauser for feedback on how to improve both public speaking skills and the content of the essay itself. This practice was especially important to familiarize ourselves with reading out and presenting an essay, something foreign and new to us. In the past, these essays were written not for discussion, but in response to a timed essay final in a purely written format. As a result, much of the vocabulary and words featured in the essays were featured on our PSAT Vocabulary lists, and are not necessarily easy to pronounce and annunciate.
“It was an eye opening and fun experience due to other students giving separate takes on the book and my essay. It improved my knowledge of Much Ado About Nothing and helped me conquer a small fear of public speaking.” – Dillon Brandt ’25
The morning of the Colloquium we arrived at Cistercian’s campus at around 8 A.M. We arrived earlier than most groups and had some time to view the First Folio and explore the campus. The day was organized into two main presenting blocks, separated by a short break. Dillon presented in the first block and started off the Colloquium as one of the first of the day. After presenting he fielded questions from Cistercian students as well as other spectators, Wallace and I presented later in the second block. Afterwards, we were all assembled for the keynote address and lunch.
In conclusion, the day was an enjoyable event and a learning opportunity for all of us. It allowed us to interpret literature in another form and to hear insights from other students and teachers from across the Metroplex. The experience was memorable and I’d recommend anyone interested to look out for it next year.
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