Cool Class

So in English two students performed their DI (duo interpretation for those you don’t know forensics).  Maybe I should clarify that.  DI has two performers.  They have to perform a piece in 10 min, they cannot touch each other, look at each other, lay on the ground, sing for more than 30 seconds, be separated by more than a hoola-hoop’s distance, and must have an intro to the piece. 

So the two students performed the piece and it was pretty good; they are going to NCFL (national catholic forensics league) on Saturday so they have talent.  Ryan, a random former student who was in the class and previous forensics student, gave some tips, but thought the piece was pretty decent.  Cody, our impromptu coach (yes I said impromptu, I made a forensics joke ok) nitpicked the whole performance.

Cody was also a former forensics student and is really amazing at performing.  He went through a few exercises and tips.  One of the girls needed to act like a little girl, so he demonstrated how little girls walk and coached her to do the same.  Another tip he gave was how to create a deeper voice to play adult males.  I didn’t realize how important vocal exercises were until he explained how braces destroy our natural speaking ability and we have to re-train ourselves to speak properly.  

Other than that, he also added comments to make the piece funnier.  In the beginning one of the girls is cutting food with a fake knife and swings the knife at the other girl accidentally.  Nobody understood this the first time so Cody changed that part to the girl evilly sharpening the knife and staring at an audience member, adding to the humor later.  Each person says their line and then the other person speaks theirs, but Cody wanted them to make subtle sly comments in the middle of each other’s talks.  Not only comments but also facial and hand gestures.  This added to the humor and believability of the emotion.  We took 50 minutes to memorize what is usually taught in a semester.  I didn’t realize how much effort goes into acting.  Cody knew what he was talking about and really helped them become way better performers.  It was one of the best English classes I have had in a while.  Hope those two do well at nationals.