Each year since it began in 2007, the August Wilson Monologue Competition finds thousands of high-school students from around the U.S. performing monologues from the revered playwright’s Century Cycle. The student performers memorize, rehearse, and recite before a panel of judges passages from plays such as Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize–winners The Piano Lesson and Fences, with the shared objective of advancing to the final round of the competition on Broadway. In Giving Voice we meet six talented hopefuls and follow them on their diverse yet converging paths. Insights into Wilson’s life and legacy are intercut with scenes depicting the students’ varied perspectives, preparations, and plans for their futures. As the youths strive to embody characters while perhaps building their own, they find counsel in mentors—and also in Wilson’s enduring worlds and words.  TM