Did you know that speech is not just about writing an essay to speak in front of an audience? Wait, what? That’s right. Speech is more than just going up and saying a few words under a certain time limit and debating back and forth with people from other schools. Speech is also about the performance, and how you make your audience feel in the end.

One of the many speech events, a duet, is not singing with a partner like you may have thought. A duet in speech is where two team members perform a script together. They can use up to two chairs and a table while performing, and they can look at each other. Contrary to the duet, a duo is where you perform a script with no props and you can’t look at each other. The script can either be about something serious, or something humorous. You have to trust that your partner is doing what they need to do, and just focus on your part of the script. Seth Mavigliano, senior, and Kelaney Stalker, junior, are one of the duos at our school who are performing the script “The Big Bang” by Boyd Graham. “It’s about a team of producers pitching a new broadway show about the history of the entire universe- in a comical way,” said Mavigliano.

“I usually can’t stop smiling at speech events, to be honest. Each competition we get better, and I am super excited to keep performing,” Stalker said. Mavigliano and Stalker placed first place in Varsity at the Blue and Gold speech meet on February 13th.

Speech events don’t stop there. Another script-based event is known as the Oral Interpretation of Drama, or OID. This is where three to five people perform a script, and are not allowed to look at each other while they act. All of the sound effects are made by the performing team. You have to have perfect timing, otherwise you may be doing the action before you get the sound you need.

One OID the school speech team is performing is “The Chronicles of Jane,” by Alan Hanal. This script is about a teenage girl procrastinating on writing a paper for class. “I really enjoy OID, you become more than just a group performing an OID script, you become really close friends, even best friends. Yes we fight, but we make up soon afterward,” freshman Allynne Hasenauer, said. The others who perform in the group are freshman Ainsley Thimes, sophomore Nirvana Mendoza and freshman Taya Hoatson. The group placed second place in the novice final round on the 13th.

A lot of these events can be either humorous or serious. The Serious speech event is where you find a relatable script and perform it. Serious event topics include bullying, abuse, the struggles of someone overseas, and more.

Sophomore Emily Dennery is performing “Defying Gravity,” by Jane Anderson. It’s about the 1986 Challenger space shuttle explosion. It’s told in the point of view of the teacher’s daughter, who’s talking about the last memories of her mother. “I love performing it. It was certainly the best of the scripts I was given to choose from. I don’t connect with it directly, but I can understand how my character feels,” said Dennery. Dennery was one place away from making final round on the 13th.