The newest iteration of the Haines High School Debate, Drama and Forensics (DDF) team will be starting its season in Haines this weekend by hosting a tournament.
Teams from Metlakatla, Skagway, and Juneau will be competing alongside returning Glacier Bear senior Maddox Rogers and sophomore Talia Hauser. New members Bugg Hunter, Chisel Triezenberg, Walther Jim, Kyla George, and Zorza Szatkowski round out the squad.
As there will be plenty of first time competitors, the meet will include training in addition to competition. Haines coach Hannah Bochart said traditionally the first tournament of the season is called a “Learnament.”
Workshops for competitors, including one run by Gershon Cohen, will be held Friday. A second workshop was scheduled, but the person who was supposed to lead it was denied a visa to come into the country, so Bochart said they’re still trying to come up with a solution. Competition will follow all day Saturday.
The meet will include a number of DDF disciplines: extemporaneous commentary, extemporaneous debate, mime, and duet acting.
Bochart said Rogers has had a goal of doing every event in the discipline, so he’ll be debuting a solo acting piece during this tournament, in addition to trying out extemporaneous debate – which sees students draw a politically charged topic and have 30 minutes to come up with an argument for it and against it. Triezenberg, Walther and Zorza will also be competing in that category.
Bugg, Szatkowski and Hauser are putting together a mime act while George and Hauser just landed on a duet acting piece.
Currently, the plan is for competition to run from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday with awards and standout performances in the evening.
Bochart said she is still looking for volunteer judges. Anyone interested should reach out to her at 907-303-0112 or contact the school.