‘Tis the season of laughs and entertainment

By: Megan B

            With the winter season sporting events in full swing some people tend to forget about the extracurricular that is personally my favorite, speech. When people hear the word speech, they instantly think of a person standing behind a podium delivering a long monotonous speech that puts everyone in the audience to sleep. Extracurricular speech is exactly the opposite; it is full of fun, laughter, and excitement for all sorts of people.

            There are two areas of speech: large group speech and individual speech. Valley currently has 34 students signed up for both areas. In large group speech there are groups ranging from four people to eleven people. Large group speech is divided into different areas that each have special requirements during performance. Valley speech students are taking part in eight different areas of competition. Valley is taking three different groups in the ensemble acting category. Ensemble Acting is acting a scene for a play, or a skit this area is extremely broad and the skits are very entertaining. Group improvisation is a group of two to six people who chose a topic from a list of three, and are given two minutes to prepare a scene. Group mime is when a group acts out a scene in complete silence. No costumes or props are allowed in this area. Radio and TV news is when a radio or television broadcast is prepared before the contest date and includes news, weather reports, and commercials. Musical theater is when a group performs a series of selections from a musical play including a story line. Improvisation, mime, radio news, and musical theater are also performed at the individual level. One act is a performance of one act from a longer play or a whole play consisting of only one act. Choral reading is the final area of large group speech. It is given the nickname of “voice choir” because a group of members recite a piece of work from a script.

            Individual speech is much like large group speech but each of the performances are done individually. As in large group, there are different areas in individual speech. Valley is participating in eleven different areas of individual speech. Acting is a very broad area; it may be funny, dramatic, or completely original, and the entire material must be memorized while the only prop used is a chair. Reviewing is when the speaker writes a review over a book, movie, or television show and then performs the review. After dinner speaking is when the speaker must identify a specific audience and inform, impress, or inspire the specific audience. Original oratory is a speech written by the speaker the persuade or inspire any type of audience. Prose consists of short stories, articles, or books which are then interpreted by the speaker. Poetry is the presentation of one or more poetry selections. Literary Program is the performance of a combination of prose and poetry.  Storytelling is the final area of individual speech it is the performance of any type of story such as a children’s story, science fiction, or other fictional piece.

            The students that participate in speech are extremely talented. They spend hours looking for pieces, rehearsing lines and learning music to perform at the district competition. The public is more than welcome to come watch the events during the large group district contest on Jan. 23 at Waukon High School. The large group state competition is on Feb. 6 at Decorah High School. The individual district contest is on Feb. 27. The Valley speech program also has Theater Night where they perform a majority of the large group and individual acts. Theater Night will be held on Mar. 2