The Haines Glacier Bards took second place for small schools in drama and third place overall among small schools at the state Drama, Debate and Forensics tournament in Juneau last weekend.
The Bards will perform their pieces for Haines on Feb. 28 at 7:30 p.m. in the Chilkat Center.
Coach Hannah Bochart said the Bards competed against more than 20 teams from across the state. All seven Bards made it into the final rounds, a first in recent memory, Bochart said.
“They were putting on performances like I’ve never seen them do before,” Bochart said. “For such a tiny team to do that well is a testament to their skill as performers and the work they’ve put in over the years.”
Eli Williamson, Hannah Boron, Stella Ordonez, Nathan Haas, Sally Chapell, Dylan Chapell and Tanna Dixon performed an abridged version of the Haines original “Lust for Dust” for the tournament’s Readers Theater. Williamson, who played a role in the Lynn Canal Community Players reproduction of the play last fall, reduced the script to a 12-minute piece. The Bards placed third overall for the performance.
In individual events, Hass and Boron placed third in duet acting. They performed a cutting from the play “Mr. Marmalade” about two preschoolers coming to grips with the adult world. “They were playing preschoolers between the ages of three and four that was really funny and really heartbreaking,” Bochart said.
Boron said acting like preschoolers was the most challenging and fun aspect of the piece.
“Kids are kind of melodramatic in their movements,” Boron said. “They don’t know sarcasm. I think that was the biggest thing, reverting back to a kid instead of refining adult acting skills. There’s this part that I really enjoyed where we’re playing house. We’re trying to act like adults, but it’s with a bag of Doritos.”
Dixon and Chapell took second in duet acting. Chapell played the part of a husband who was incredulous that his wife, played by Dixon, was turning into a bag lady. The piece had props that Dixon got to throw at Chapell, part of the sequence that Dixon said she and Chapell performed better than ever.
“We had a lot of pressure just to do well because there were so many other people at state that are such amazing actors and actresses,” Dixon said. “We had so much adrenaline, especially since it’s our senior years. We really wanted to do well.”
Ordonez took home third place for solo acting with a piece about a woman having a change of heart “and a bit of a breakdown before giving her vows before her wedding,” Bochart said.
“She performed it brilliantly,” Bochart said.
Ordonez said she’s been performing the piece all season, and was confident at state. She said the piece was humorous, but also contained ambivalence that gave it depth. “It’s supposed to be funny but it’s also kind of sad and you’re not sure what’s going to end up happening in the end,” Ordonez said. “It’s not resolved.”
Boron performed a humorous interpretation and earned sixth place with a piece titled “Santaland Diaries” by David Sedaris. She played the part of a 30-year-old person working at Macy’s as Santa’s elf.