Corvallis High School senior performs at Lincoln Center in New York City

By Alex Paul

Gazette-Times reporter

Erin Cunningham didn't win a trip to Oxford, England, during her performance at the National Shakespeare Competition in New York City, but the Corvallis High School senior said her experience was the fulfillment of a childhood dream.

"I had always wanted to perform at the Lincoln Center," Cunningham said of the April 25-28 adventure. "It went so well. It was the best I've ever performed it. I'm very happy with how I did."

Cunningham, the daughter of Pat and Cathy Cunningham of Corvallis, was one of the state winners representing high schools from across the country. The program is sponsored by the English Speaking Union of the United States. New York City's champions won the all-expenses-paid trip to participate in the British American Drama Academy's Midsummer Conservatory Program at Oxford University.

Her performance was as Cressida from the play "Troilus and Cressida," which she first learned at an Oregon Shakespeare Festival theater seminar last summer in Ashland.

"There was a wide range of students," Cunningham said. "It was fun getting to know people. There were several get-acquainted activities."

Cunningham had visited the Big Apple for the first time only a month before with a group of drama students from CHS under the leadership of director Laura Braibish. This trip, she traveled alone for the first time and flew into Newark, N.J.

All of the the actors stayed at a youth hostel.

Sightseeing and a low-key acting workshop took up her first day in the city on Saturday.

"We got to ride a double decker bus and that was great," Cunningham said. "We had to duck under tree limbs. We had a group photo taken in front of the statue of Shakespeare in Central Park."

Sunday, the students attended the play "Waiting For Godot" starring Nathan Lane.

"It's existential and absurd," Cunningham said.

The competition was held on Monday at the Mitzi Newhouse Theatre at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

"I was number 54 out of 58 performers," Cunningham said. "I wasn't as nervous as I thought I was going to be. I just told myself that this was something I had wanted to do ever since I was a child. I'm only 18 and performing at the Lincoln Center. I just wanted to go out and knock them dead."

Cunningham said she left the stage knowing she had performed at her very best.

Another plus was that comedic actor Gene Wilder of "Young Frankenstein" fame was one of the event's judges. "He sat just 15 feet from me," Cunningham said.

The event climaxed with a cast party on Monday evening after the finals.

Cunningham plans to teach at summer drama camps at CHS and will perform as Countess Olivia during Bard in the Quad at Oregon State University in August.

In the fall, she will enter Southern Oregon University to study theater.

Alex Paul can be contacted at alex.paul@lee.net or by calling 758-9526.