The Haines drama, debate and forensics team competed in Ketchikan last weekend, its final regional meet before the state championship in mid-February.
Eight students competed in drama, speaking, and debate events against teams from Juneau-Douglas, Thunder Mountain, Sitka, Wrangell, Mount Edgecumbe and Ketchikan.
Polly Bryant and Tia Heywood took second place in duet acting for “DMV Tyrant,” a piece about a frustrating day at the department of motor vehicles.
Heywood and Zayla Asquith-Heinz finished second in readers theater with their cutting from Monty Python’s “Holy Grail.” The girls gave a command performance of the piece during the award ceremony.
Heywood made finals in expository speaking with her talk on the search for a “grand unified theory” – an explanation of the structure of the universe that can account for our observations of both the very small and the very large.
Zeke Frank and Neil Little took third in pantomime with a piece inspired by John Belushi’s Saturday Night Live “Samurai” series. In “Don’t Eat Farmed Fish,” samurai Frank reluctantly makes “killer” sushi for Little, who dies halfway through the meal. In shame, Frank commits ritual suicide to preserve his honor.
Royal Henderson made the final round in extemporary speaking and took fourth place overall. Little also qualified for finals in humorous interpretation, with a sixth place finish for the “Bricklayer’s Lament,” a story in acting and song about a guy who can’t seem to get out of the way of a falling barrel of bricks.
The debate competition was “very tough,” according to coach Gershon Cohen. Both teams of Patrick and Royal Henderson and Zeke Frank and Eli White won about half their matches.
Out of 12 matches, 11 were against Ketchikan teams, and despite having strong cases and a solid understanding of the issues, the home town advantage was simply too much to overcome for them to make finals, Cohen said.
The team’s annual dessert auction and performance fundraiser is set for 7 p.m. Feb. 6 in the high school open area.