So much (speech &) drama

Malta Speech and Drama concluded their 2015-16 season with the state meet in late January as six members of the squad made their way to Ennis where Bella Mackey nabbed a second place finish and the Serious Duo of Daphne Johnson and Kari Koss earned a fifth place nod.

Coach Kara Bates, a first year teacher with the Malta Schools – who filled in for Coach Anna LaBrie this season – said that overall, she was happy with how the season progressed as the students performed over the four-month season.

"It was a lot of work and I think I pushed the kids," said Coach Bates. "I think we saw the results with going to and placing at state."

Coach Bates said the Speech and Drama season is the longest of any club or sport at Malta High School. Over the four month season, the Drama team took first place at the Wolf Point Meet in early December, the following week at the Malta Meet and then a third time at Glasgow the first week of January. Aside from top honors, the MHS team also tallied two third place finishes (at both the Havre and Conrad meets.) The Speech team scored a second place finish at the the Havre Meet – the first event of the year – and a third place ranking at the Wolf Point event.

Coach Bates thanks Coach Jane Knudsen for her assistance during the Speech and Drama season and also thanked the community of Malta for their assistance during the Malta Meet held in mid-December.

"We wouldn't have been able to put on the meet here in Malta without all the help we had for judging and everything else," she said. "It was a huge help."

Each of the MHS Speech and Drama team members were asked the same two questions last week. What follows are their answers.

Question #1: What was your personal highlight of this season?

Question #2: What is your favorite part of speech and drama?

Reese Sjostrom, freshman.

Q1: Getting to meet new people.

Q2: Getting to learn more about topics that I wouldn't know about if I wasn't in (speech and drama.)

Billie Orahood, sophomore.

Q1: Getting second at Malta ...I performed mime.

Q2: Sleeping under tables. There is nothing to do during rounds and half the time you are tired from being up all night so you sleep under tables (at events.)

Dominick Judd, junior.

Q1: Probably being able to keep working and improve my piece, getting it to where I really liked it (the piece Judd performed this year was Night by Elie Wiesel.) It is a very serious piece, but I enjoyed it.

Q2: Meeting the new kids and being able to go through this terrifying experience together.

Bonus answer: I think (speech and drama) is fun and I think everyone should do it.

John Waters, senior.

Q1: Getting to go to state. We didn't place, but it was really cool.

Q2: Being able to perform and perfect a piece, which is a lot of fun to me because then you can see how it evolves. (John performed Hum Duo this season with Dawn Jenkins.)

Daphne Johnson, junior.

Q1: Going around and meeting new people at the meets because they are all interesting.

Q2: Seeing the different performances people do and seeing the level of acting everyone has.

Bonus answer: Hi Mom! (Julia Johnson.)

Kari Koss, junior.

Q1: I think the highlight was going to state. It was fun. There was a good atmosphere and a lot of good people (she and Johnson took fifth at state in their duo-performance.)

Q2: It makes you get out of your comfort zone and you can meet new people. Ennis was fun too.

Bella Mackey, sophomore

Q1: Making it to state. I took second in dramatic solo as Cybil who has multiple personalities.

Q2: Meeting all the different people and getting exposed to different people around the state.

Clara Waters, freshman.

Q1: Winning first place at the Wolf Point Meet.

Q2: Traveling...I really liked Bozeman.

Dawn Jenkins, sophomore.

Q1: The Malta Meet, because we got first (with John Waters...the duo performed You are Driving Me Crazy from the play Parent's Just Don't Understand.)

Q2: The bus rides. Speech and drama kids are a little weird, so when you get a bunch of good speech and drama kids together, the bus rides are fun.

Bonus answer: Never make fun of speech and drama kids.