The Haines Drama, Debate and Forensics team learned to work together on one of the state’s only full-team pieces and qualified for the state competition.

The five-member team – team captain and junior Sheeshao “Max” White, sophomore Tanna Dixon, sophomore Nathan Haas, sophomore Carver Culbeck, and freshman Eli Williamson – performed together in the reader’s theater category in a piece called “Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon.” It humorously attempted to tell more than 200 Brothers Grimm stories in just a few minutes.

New coach and school counselor Kristin Brumfield said the Haines crew was the only full team to make it to finals in its meet at Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka in mid-December, and they ultimately placed third. At their meet in Ketchikan this month, the reader’s theater piece made it to finals and again placed third.

A performance needs to place in finals at least twice in regional competitions to qualify for state in Anchorage.

“The kids were enthusiastic and working really hard,” Brumfield said.

White and Williamson placed fourth in Sitka and third in Ketchikan with their duo performance called “Action News Now with 10 Percent More Action,” which Brumfield said was an “absurd” look at newscasters who “are not college graduates.”

Haas and Dixon were practicing their humorous duet called “Funeral Parlor,” in which Dixon played a grieving widow and Haas played a friend trying to console her. Haas said before the Ketchikan meet he was still working on memorizing his script while Dixon was polishing her acting and body language.

“I’m excited, the team is improving and showing what they can do,” Brumfield said. She said she and assistant coach Marley Horner, both new to DDF, are still learning how to be coaches but are enjoying the experience.

“As a former DDF member, it’s exciting to see the next generation and be part of that,” Horner said. “The team has improved leaps and bounds in the last month.”

Brumfield said because some of the team members have a conflict with the dates of the state competition, and because the entire team is needed to perform the reader’s theater piece, the team has opted not to go to state this year.

The DDF team will still host a dinner and performance on Friday, Feb. 2 at the school to raise money for future travel

“Coach Horner and I are thrilled with how our team has performed this year. We are very proud,” Brumfield said.