BURLEY – The Burley High School Speech and Drama Department will hold a dessert theatre fundraiser Feb. 23, 2012 at 6 p.m. on the stage of the King Fine Arts Center. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased in advance at the front office of the high school, or from a speech/drama student, or at the door beginning at 5:30 p.m. on Feb. 23rd.
In addition to being able to sample a variety of desserts throughout the evening, guests will also be sampling a variety of dramatic interpretations, speeches, panels and other kinds of speech activities.
Featured within the evening’s entertainment will be presentations by the five BHS students who recently participated in the National Forensic League’s (NFL) Idaho State Qualifying competitions held in Rexburg, Feb. 2-4.
In order to compete at this level, students must have earned enough points to become a member of the NFL. These points are earned through quantity and quality. Students can participate often and/or do very well in a few (or in the case of two of our students just one) competition.
At the recent NFL competition, Spencer Atkins, a junior at Burley, was chosen as one of two students to represent the Mountain River Division and the State of Idaho at the NFL national competition to be held in Indianapolis, Ind. in June. Atkins cut a full-length musical down to a 10-minute humorous interpretation of “Once Upon a Mattress.”
Noel Nelson, a senior at BHS, earned Second Alternate in Original Oratory with a piece she termed, “Nerdatory.” Nelson wrote and memorized the 10-minute speech in just about 2 weeks. As second alternate, Noel will be attending the national competition if two of the three speakers above her drop out for any reason.
BHS JuniorAnson Call, first performed his dramatic interpretation, “Telephone Man,” at a competition held at Idaho State University (ISU) in January. His piece made it to the final round at both ISU and the national qualifying competition.
Larissa Fisher, a BHS senior, is in her first year of competitive speech. She developed an original oratory on the same topic as her senior project, empathy loss. Her speech made it to the semi-final rounds of the national qualifying competition.
Tegan Durfee, a sophomore, will share her dramatic interpretation of “13 Things About Ed Carpolotti.” At a competition held at ISU, Tegan was advanced to the semi-finals and garnered enough points her first time out to gain a spot on the national qualifying team.
“Those who attend can expect to laugh heartily, shed a tear or two, and learn a lot about the caliber of our students and what makes them want to speak out,” said Fisher, who has stepped in to fill Call’s shoes as he fights a battle with cancer.
The hard part is going to be turning all of this wonderful talent into a 2-hour performance,” Fisher added.
