POETRY OUT LOUD -- Rushford-Peterson High School

The Minnesota Arts Board sponsors a Poetry Out Loud competition in Minnesota High Schools. Participants must choose two poems from a given selection, to memorize and recite for competition. Students are judged on a variety of items, from meorization, to difficulty level of the poem, to understanding what the poem means, to appropriate gestures.

This was the first competition of this sort in the R-P School.

Students did an impressive job.

SPELLING BEE -- R-P Elementary/Middle School Students

Rushford-Peterson High School Theatre

A spelling Bee Competition.

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I'd never been to a Spelling Bee before. I decided that I really should check one out, and it was quite exciting. Each class in grades 5-8 had at least two representatives, possibly three.

After a few quick 'outs,' it came down to two students ... a 5th grade boy and an 8th grade girl. It looked like the 8th grade girl had it sewn up, but her spelling of "candidate" sounded as though she said "a" rather than "e" for the final letter (no one doubted she knew the spelling, but she wasn't clear enough), and the battle between the two went a couple more rounds.

The words for this contest were:

clumsiness
xylophone
gazelle
hustle
alamo
denim
contraband
bagel
denture
elite
troika
collage
cobalt
sitzmark
bequeath
cantata
angst
quell
derth
fiery
candidate
vendetta

Only two words made me pause (and I did get them correct on my writing of them): 'troika' and 'sitzmark.' Both caused the elimination of a student. 'Troika' and 'sitzmark'?! What kinds of words are those for a spelling bee?

A fun experience.

MSHSL SUB-SECTION 1A ONE ACT PLAY FESTIVAL -- Rushford-Peterson High School

Five one-act plays, produced and performed by area high schools as part of the Minnesota State High School League One Act Play Festival. The schools are: Chatfield; Fillmore Central; Houston; Rushford-Peterson; Spring Grove.

The plays are:

Happily Never After by T. Kelly
The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon by Don Zolidis
Mother Goosed by Jason Pizzarello
Crisis, Inc. by Daniel Munson
Four Little Words by Edward Finnegan

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Over-all, this was a pretty decent selection of plays.

Happily Never After was a cute fairy tale, suggesting that things DIDN'T end happily after after and perhaps the wrong pairings were made, but when they tried to match up different princes and princesses, it got even worse. The actors did a decent job but the direction lacked timing and build and energy.

I'd seen The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon the previous weekend, when it was outstanding. This production also lacked energy momentum, but held together cohesively.

Mother Goosed was the third fairy-tale type play of the day. The blocking was a bit tired and boring, but the actors hit all the right marks and did a wonderful job. As I described it to my students, "They didn't do anything wrong."

My own show, Crisis, Inc., was probably the best it had ever been. The kids peaked at the right time and hit all the right marks, though there was still room for improvement in places.

Another show that I saw the previous weekend, Four Little Words, did little to improve itself over the week. It did manage to get rid of some of the random up-staging, but vocal screeching and boring line delivery remained constant.

My top three were Crisis, Inc., Mother Goosed, and Brothers Grimm, in that order. Actual results ... 2nd place: Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon; 1st place (Sub-Section Champions): Crisis, Inc.

THREE RIVERS ONE ACT CONFERENCE - Wabasha-Kellogg High School

Wabasha-Kellogg Performing Arts Center

Nine high schools, belonging to the Three Rivers Conference league, perform their one act plays for competition and to receive advice on how to improve to be ready for sub-section competition.

Performing were:
St. Charles High School - Competition Piece by John S. Wells
Kingsland High School - Wiley and the Hairy Man by Jack Stokes
Wabasha-Kellogg High School - Employees Must Wash Hands ... Before Murder by Don Zolidis
Southland High School - No Time by Laurence Klavan
Rushford-Peterson High School - Crisis, Inc. by Daniel Munson
Dover-Eyota High School - Class Action by Brad Straight
Chatfield High School - Four Little Words by Edward Finnegan
Fillmore-Central High School - The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon by Don Zolidis
Lewiston-Altura High School - Oh What a Tangled Web by John R. Carroll

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A long and interesting day of plays.

Competition Piece was moderately well done. The cast did a wonderful job of projecting and staying in character, but the direction was flat, static.

I've seen Wiley and the Hairy Man before and I just can't find the attraction to this piece. Perhaps it's because I've never seen it done well, though this was closer than the last time I saw it. Sadly, the young boy who played "Wiley" came across as VERY gay, and that's about all anyone got out of it.

I missed both Employees Must Wash Hands and No Time, as my cast was preparing for their performance.

My students performed Crisis, Inc. and did a remarkably good job. Probably the best tyhey'd done to that point. It wasn't strong, but there were glimpses of what it could be.

Class Action also showed glimpses of possibility, but as it was, it was disorganized and confused. If the director could get a clearer picture of the whole, and the actors actually talk to each other rather than out to the stage, they will do well.

Four Little Words was just dreadful. Random actions by cast members with nothing to do on stage were a constant distraction. Screaming made dialog unintelligible. Fast, slurry lines from a major character with all the 'one-liners' was embarassing. Probably the worst performance of the day.

The best performance of the day was probably The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon. They were energetic and had the audience absolutely adoring them.

Oh What A Tangled Web was another show that had promise but was in too much of a rehearsal stage still to be strong enough to compete. Dropped lines, missing cues, and confusion with the blocking had them suffering some.

Overall, an interesting collection of shows for the day. This was the first time I've attended this event, and it was certainly well worth our time. it was good to be in front of an audience and to hear where the laughs were going to come from.

Awards went to: Fillmore Central, The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon - 1st place. Saint Charles, Competition Piece - 2nd place. Rushford-Peterson, Crisis, Inc. - 3rd place. Wabasha-Kellog, Employees Must Wash Hands Before Murder - 4th place.