South Lakes announced the fifth annual Shakespeare Competition which will show at the Black Box Theater on Wednesday, Feb. 29.

English and special education teacher Kim Small sponsors the event.

“I introduced it to South Lakes five years ago because the regional competition in D.C. has schools from the whole metropolitan area-public and private,” said Small. “I felt that Fairfax County Schools were underrepresented, and I wanted a place where they could shine.”

The Shakespeare Competition requires participants to perform and interpret a Shakespearian monologue and sonnet from memory.

“Auditions have to make the character come alive and feel real,” said Small. “Even if the audience doesn’t understand the words, they should know the meaning. It involves a lot of character study and knowledge of the technical parts of Shakespeare’s literature.”

The top two performers from the event will compete in the annual Shakespeare Competition at Washington, D.C. on March 5.

The 2011 regional competition winner was alumni Alex Turner. Turner proceeded to place in the top ten at the national competition after his regional win.