ORATORS ADVANCE TO STATE

Fifteen from Freeman schools, Marion and Menno heading to Sturgis next week

Students from Freeman Academy, Freeman Public, Marion and Menno will all take part in the South Dakota High School Activities Association’s 2024 State Oral Interpretation Festival set for next Friday and Saturday, Dec. 6 and 7 at Sturgis Brown High School in Sturgis. The competition begins at 9 a.m. Friday morning and will conclude later Saturday afternoon.

All local students advanced at the Region 2B competition held in Mitchell last week Tuesday, Nov. 19.

Freeman Academy

Freeman Academy will be represented in the category of Reader’s Theatre by the team of Madelyn Anderson, Jada Buse, Ben Clark, Arianne Fink, Jax Kaufman and Armando Miller, with its cutting of “Mythically Mythical Myths” by Jon Jory.

Class B Reader’s Theatre is part of the opening session that begins at 9 a.m. Friday.

“We have a lot of depth in our team this year, as the school with the most entries in the Region 2B contest this season,” said coach Clara Beseman. “Unfortunately, we suffered multiple disappointments in not advancing to state with many of our entries, but we’re excited to be bringing this hard-working, dedicated group of six students to Sturgis.”

Also competing in the region competition was Fink in Storytelling with “The Starless Sea,” Anderson in Poetry with “Miracles of the Mundane,” Miller in Humorous with “Seriously … I’m Kidding,” Abigail Bradley in Serious with “The Richest Man in Town,” and Buse and Kaufman in Duet with “The Chess Piece Piece.”

Freeman Academy’s postseason oral interpretation team included, back from left: Jada Buse, Armando Miller, coach Clara Beseman, Jax Kaufman, Arianne Fink; front from left: Estelle Waltner, Madelyn Anderson, Abigail Bradley and Ben Clark. Advancing to state is the Reader’s Theatre team of Anderson, Buse, Miller, Fink, Clark and Kaufman.

Freeman Public

Freeman Public will be represented at state three times by two students — junior Thor Aanenson and sophomore Claire Loofbourrow.

Aanenson, who already has three state superiors on his resume, will compete in the category of Humorous with “The Party” by Allie Brosh; and in Non-Original Oratory with “The unheard story of David and Goliath,” a TedTalk by Malcolm Gladwell originally presented in 2013.

Class B Humorous is part of the second session that begins at 1:30 p.m. Friday while Class B Non-Original Oratory is part of the final session that starts at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday.

Loofbourrow is competing in Storytelling with, “Tell Me Why You Cry,” a story by Nicole Rose Patridge published in a book by Jack Canfield called “Chicken Soup for the Teenage Soul II.”

Class B Storytelling is part of the third of five sessions that begins at 6 p.m. on Friday.

“The one thing that sets these two apart is their crisp, clear voices,” says Nancy Loofbourrow, who is in her first year as oral interpretation coach at Freeman Public. “They both articulate well and make listening to them easy. For each of Thor’s pieces, he brings a level of enthusiasm that is unmatched while using the full range of his voice: crying like a young boy and booming like an intimidating giant.

“Claire’s piece is much different but still allows for a broad range of voices,” the coach continues. “However, because it’s storytelling, the rules indicate there must be some restraint with gestures and movements. This works because her piece is sad yet still allows multiple levels of emotion while artistically drawing in the audience with this story of a big sister and her little brother who has cancer.

“It has really been a lot of fun coaching them and watching their pieces evolve over the past several weeks,” says Loofbourrow. “We’re excited to see what the judges at State think!”

Freeman Public’s Thor Aanenson and Claire Loofbourrow both competed at the Region 2B competition Nov. 21 and both advanced to state, with Aanenson competing in two categories.

Marion

For Marion, its entire Region 2B team advanced to state in three categories — Duet Interpretation, Readers Theatre and Storytelling.

In the category of Duet Interpretation, sophomores Domani Butler and Avary Thomas will present “To be in your Shoes” by Jay Morrison. They will perform as part of the fourth session that begins at 9 a.m. Saturday.

Harli Ross, also a sophomore, will represent Marion in Storytelling with “Right Number, Wrong Person” by Jamie Ruff in the third session that starts at 6 p.m. Friday.

And the Reader’s Theatre team of Butler, Ross, Thomas, Kolter Schmidt, Claire Donlan and Bailey Hernandez will present “Job Fair” by Lorie Allen; that will be part of the opening session that starts at 9 a.m. Friday.

“We are rehearsing every day to get ready for this wonderful opportunity,” said Marion coach Linda Luke. “The group is so excited about competing at state. Some got a taste last year and that has been their goal from the beginning.”

Menno

Menno’s representation will come from sophomore Ervin Schrock, who is presenting “Just Listen” in Serious Reading — a piece about a mother who loses both a child and her sanity.

“It’s a good piece and fits her really well,” said coach Betsy Knodel. “She creates the most psychotic person I’ve ever seen and she is just really fun to work with.”

Schrock will compete in the final session of the two-day competition scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m. Saturday.

Menno was also represented in the region competition by the Reader’s Theatre team of Zain Kishbaugh, William Stokes, Jaxon Stoebner and Brooks Schoenfish.

Menno students competing in the Region 2B competition earlier this month were, from left: William Stokes, Zain Kishbaugh, Brooks Schoenfish, Jaxon Stoebner and Ervin Schrock. Schrock moved on to the state festival in Sturgis next week.