Blaine County Speech and Drama Teams Compete in Both Great Falls and Culbertson
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With competitors coming from as great a distance as that travelled by performers from Malta High School and those from Lincoln County High School in Eureka, Montana, nineteen schools were represented at the Great Falls Central Catholic New Year Invitational Debate, Speech, and Drama Meet. The meet, which was held at the University of Providence on Saturday, January 11, was attended by both Chinook High School and Harlem High School. The third county team, the Dodson and Hays-Lodge Pole Co-op thespians, performed in Culbertson. Two of the three schools racked up a couple of wins.
Conflicts with scheduling and various personal commitments limited the numbers competing in Great Falls this week. Although all Class A, B, and C events were offered to the 141 students in attendance, any events with six or fewer competitors did not run a finals round. Drama Classical Theater, Humorous Duo, Pantomime, and Original Oratory were four of the events affected.
Coached by Harlem High School Art Teacher, Mary-Kate French, Dante Jackson, a junior from Harlem, earned eighth place in Dramatic Oral Interpretation with his piece “The Tell-Tale Heart” by Edgar Allen Poe. His teammate, sophomore Stanley Spangelo didn’t make it to the final round in Humorous Oral Interpretation with his piece entitled “Beauty Sleep” by Meghan Hakes.
Chinook’s team was fractured by prior commitments, leaving the two humorous duos minus a partner and turning the Classical Theater pair into a single. Only one of those jilted decided to compete alone.
According to his coach Bonnie Ortner, who is also the Resource Room Instructor at the high school, Gavin Lemro competed in Spontaneous Oral Interpretation for “the spirit of the sport.”
In this event, Lemro does not prepare a competition piece. Instead, when he walks into the event room, the judge hands him a script which he has five minutes to review before presenting. Similar to the impromptu speaking event, students wait outside the room until it is their turn to prepare and present. Although Lemro didn’t place, he competed, and for that “self-affirming act,” Ortner expressed pride.
Ortner reported that the other team members who travelled were able to observe performances that they otherwise would not have been able to see. “This gave them an even broader appreciation for drama and for what others perform,” Ortner said.
Although several of the typical Chinook competitors were unavailable for the Great Falls meet, they plan to take part next Saturday, January 18, at the Simms Pre-Divisional Challenge tournament hosted by Simms.
In a similar situation of missing competitors, Coach of the Dodson and Hays-Lodge Pole Co-op team, Paul Condon reported that his crew was signed up to attend the Culbertson Invitational Meet but that five members of the team were unavailable. That left the loan pair, Nature Bracelet and Randall Werk to perform in Classical Theater. They placed fifth with their piece “Excerpts from Adam and Eve” by Mark Twain.
Up next on the Co-op team’s schedule, Condon hopes that his full roster of seven will be competing in Livingston at the Paradise Valley Invitational hosted by Park High School on January 18.
All three of the Blaine County teams will be joined by thirteen others to attend the Northern BC Speech and Drama Divisional Meet on January 25 in Shelby.
