STATE ORAL INTERPRETATION: STRONG VOICE CARRIES CARR TO SUPERIOR
JEREMY WALTNER – PUBLISHER
“You are married to your message and I know that.”
That comment from Shirlene Joseph, one of the judges at the 2021 State Oral Interpretation Festival in Huron last week, was directed at Solomé Carr, a Menno senior following her Poetry Reading piece, “Lost and Found.”
“I can hear your voice,” the judge continued. “Success at its finest.”
Joseph was one of three who collectively awarded Carr a superior at the 2021 festival held last week Friday and Saturday, Dec. 3 and 4. It was Carr’s first state medal individually; she also won a superior as a sophomore as part of a Reader’s Theatre trio in 2019.
“I’m very excited for Solomé,” said Betsy Knodel, the oral interpretation coach at Menno. “She did a phenomenal job; I am really, really proud of her.”
Carr’s piece is centered around a young African American growing up in a predominantly white community who struggles with being black, particularly because racial awareness doesn’t exist in her school. And the things she learns during African American History Month, Knodel explains, “aren’t enough to inspire a young person of color.”
It’s not until she is older that she discovers the African American literature section at the library and discovers voices like Martin Luther King Jr. and Maya Angelou, that she realizes “she is learning.”
“She did a phenomenal job of bringing that character to life,” Knodel says. “She was very good at using her facial expressions, her gestures and her vocal expression to match it.
“She’s a natural when she figures out what a character is supposed to do,” she continues. “She can be that 6-year-old, that sixth grader, that high school student, and then that person from history. She really did a nice job transitioning in and out of those things.
Menno was also represented last week by sophomore Kaelie Derby in the Serious Reading category with “I Am a Good Mother,” and the Reader’s Theatre team of Carr, Derby, Isabella Hogeland, Chandler Dant, Josephine Stokes and Alexis Hogeland, who presented a cutting from “Pandemic,” a Menno original written in 2020.
Both fell just short of a state medal.
“You always wish the best for your kids and are disappointed when they come up short, but they all worked hard and represented the school well,” Knodel said. “One thing I always tell them is that, when you get up there, you give it your all, so when you leave you know you have done everything to the best of your ability, and you leave it there.
“I really felt they all did that.”
Knodel said the Reader’s Theatre team was up against two challenges: They were the first to perform, “which is never a good thing,” and rather than present the piece on a stage like they have been accustomed to, they performed in the much smaller choral room at Huron High School.
“My kids are used to a lot bigger space,” she said, “so it was hard to do what they’re used to doing.”
The Reader’s Theatre team fell just three points shy of a superior.
As for Derby, whose appearance at Huron last week was her first state festival, Knodel is pleased with her performance and excited for what’s to come for the sophomore.
“She did a phenomenal job; I was really proud of her,” said the coach. “Up until they announced superiors I thought she would be right there with them. It’s so tough when it’s so subjective. But in future years you’re going to see a lot more from her.
She’s going to come out and really use her talents and her abilities.”
