Four North Hills Middle School GATE students participated in this year’s Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest hosted by the Pittsburgh Public Theater.

Eighth grader Willa Dickinson, seventh grader Coraline Lubay and sixth graders Rebecca Gielen and Ethan Turo each chose a monologue to research and perform in the contest’s preliminary audition held Feb. 9 at the O’Reily Theater.

This was the 30th year for the Annual Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest, which invites students in grades 4-12 to participate by acting out a monologue or scene from one of Shakespeare’s plays. More than 800 students from 70 area schools participated this year.

Congratulations to Coraline, who received honorable mention for her monologue from "Much Ado About Nothing."

Ethan’s monologue was also from "Much Ado About Nothing." Willa performed a monologue from "The Two Gentlemen of Verona" and Rebecca from "A Midsummer Night’s Dream."

As part of the contest, the students attended a free workshop and coaching session, and received a contest t-shirt.