1. INTERPRETATION 101

2. WHAT makes a great interp piece?

3. Making Good Choices
The best performances are purposeful. As you are constructing your performance, it’s important to make choices that support your overall goal. To help make this less abstract, ask yourself these questions:
What do you want the audience to take away from your performance.
Is there a specific emotion you want to evoke?
A message you’d like to impart?
A conversation you’d like to see occur?
Be as specific as possible. Once you have an answer, construct your performance with a series of choices that lead to that goal. Push yourself to justify every decision that goes into a performance. Being able to defend every choice you have made, from character creation to cutting, is apparent in your performance. Consciously or not, audiences will notice how much work you have put into your performance.

4. Environment
You need to construct an environment for each of your scenes.
One of the most common pitfalls for interpers is to perform without defining what environment their characters are in. Considering no props or costumes are allowed, not establishing an environment takes away from the potential of a performance, especially when your characters are not interacting with the world around them.
For example, an Interpretation script which features one character: an old woman reminiscing about her life up until this point. An easy and effective environment to build is to perform as though she is in her home. Now, think about what her home looks like.
Is there anything in the script that references specific objects?
What kind of house would she live in?
What is she doing as she tells the story?

5. The Narrative Arc
You’ve likely heard of or seen the narrative arc by now, which underscores just how important it is when telling a story. Think about your favorite performances that you’ve seen. Chances are each of those followed a narrative arc very clearly. While much of your arc is decided by the cutting of the piece, this guide focuses primarily on performance.
Good stories have dynamic characters, which means your main character will have changed by the end of your performance. If that change is not immediately obvious in the script, consider all the ways you can bring out that difference in your performance.
Consider the role of a climax in Humorous Interpretation, an event not traditionally renowned for its emotional resonance. If you are able to create a character that resonates with the audience by the end of your performance, a dynamic character who has changed in a way that is familiar and compelling, then you have added a layer of complexity to your performance, beyond just making people laugh.

8. Time
This section will be brief, but it is perhaps the most important consideration in your performance. Be certain that your performance is consistently in time. Interpretation is a subjective endeavor; there is always going to be variance.
However, one of the only guaranteed ways to ensure that your performance ranks poorly in a round is to be over or under the time limit. Worrying about time in your performance is neither fun nor exciting, but that doesn’t mean it isn’t necessary for success.

9. Diversity of Tone
As a general rule of thumb, the more types of emotions you can pull from an audience in the performance, the better. The reason for this is two-fold: it creates a dynamic performance, and it makes your climax more effective.
First, making your audience laugh, cry, and think during a performance means you have created a performance that will resonate with them, because there is much more to unpack. Quite often, the performances judges have to think about after a round are the performances that are successful.
This leads to the second benefit of diverse tones: making your climax more effective.
Imagine a Duo that resembles a romantic comedy: the make or break moment at the end of the piece relies on the audience’s emotional investment of the relationship between the two characters. Construct the performance in a way that makes the audience root for the relationship to succeed, using humor early in the piece. That way, when a conflict is introduced, the audience cares regardless of the outcome. If the relationship succeeds, you leave your audience with a warm feeling. If it fails, the audience will be devastated. Either way, you have constructed a performance that will resonate because the different tones introduced all lead to a common point where the audience cares about the outcome.

10. The events

11. Duo interpretation

12. DUO – Duo Interpretation
Do you like teamwork and working with a partner?
Do you like reading scripts of dialogue out loud?
Do you like coordinating movement?
THEN DUO MIGHT BE
THE EVENT FOR YOU!

13. What is DUO?
In this two-person event, the partners interpret and perform a selection from a literary work (play, poem, short story, etc.) with no props or costumes, memorization required, and an introduction to the piece embedded within the performance
Basically, Duo is almost like a theatrical duet acting piece—except for some explicit, forensic related rules. Duo pieces can either be dramatic or comedic; whichever meets the needs and strengths of the performers.
Duo is both a rewarding and challenging event. Rewarding in that working with a scene partner helps develop you as an actor. You learn to listen. You and your partner discover each other’s strengths and weaknesses and learn how to balance one another. Cooperation skills are a must! However, the challenge is being with a partner also means that someone else is responsible for half the work. Choosing a reliable partner is imperative.

14. What makes a great Duo?
Duo can be comedic, dramatic, or a combination of both. It is important that your piece plays to the strengths of both performers.
Restrictions in Duo are specific and offer interesting obstacles to overcome. But when you overcome these obstacles combined with creativity, you come out with a great piece.
In Duo, partners are not allowed to touch or look at one another. Therefore, creative blocking might be in order for any “contact” that must occur.
Duo pieces can be cut in any manner but no dialogue can be added. Further, most Duo competitions expect actors to take on more than one role. This again leads to creativity. Changes in body language, voice, hand-gestures, and pantomime are some ways to signal the transformation to a new character.
For comedic effect, the use of singing, emphasis on certain words, altering tone, and dancing are several ways to add variety to a piece. 

15. Activity: 60 second fairytales

16. Dramatic interpretation

17. DI – Dramatic Interpretation
Do you like telling people stories?
Are you fascinated with dramatic situations?
Do you like playing “realistic” characters?
THEN DI MIGHT BE THE
EVENT FOR YOU!

18. What is DI?
Dramatic Interpretation is an event of a more serious nature.
In this event, the performer who covers the most emotional ground will usually win the round.
This is an individual event, with no props or costumes, memorization required, and an introduction to the piece embedded within the performance. Pieces can be selections from published/printed novels, short stories, poetry, plays, monologues (although, I personally would not recommend a monologue) or other printed/published material
When looking for Dramatic Interpretation selections keep in mind that drama must include: 1) a state, situation, or series of events; 2) interestingness or intensity; 3) conflict of forces.

19. What makes a great DI?
Choose an honest, unique, moving piece for Dramatic Interpretation that YOU connect with! Judges will have varying opinions, but if you don’t connect to the material, how can you expect your judge to?
Many competitors make the mistake of thinking that this is an easy event because all you have to do is “be sad.” But in D.I., if you do not develop your characters’ emotions and mannerisms, your piece will fall flat. It is not merely about recitation; you have to invest time and energy into character development.
Think hard about what you would do if you were in your character’s shoes. Read every line in the piece and carefully evaluate what each phrase means for your character. If your family member was diagnosed with an incurable disease, or you were plagued by predictions of people’s deaths, or you had just buried a beating heart under your floorboards and couldn’t get the victim’s eye out of your mind, then you would react to that. Don’t just say the lines. Feel them.
Facial expression is key. Be energetic and as natural as possible.

20. hUmorous interpretation

21. HI – Humorous Interpretation
Do you like making people laugh?
Do you like making different voices?
Do you like making faces?
THEN HI MIGHT BE THE
EVENT FOR YOU!

22. What is HI?
This event is just like Dramatic Interpretation. Same rules, same restrictions, same concept, but funny.
This is an individual event, with no props or costumes, memorization required, and an introduction to the piece embedded within the performance.
This is an individual event where the performer creates a cutting from a selection of published/printed work, which can be from a play, novel, short story, monologues (again, I do NOT recommend a monologue), etc.
Most judges expect to see a performer interpreting more than one character, hence why monologue selections are a poor choice.

23. What makes a great HI?
Good news is – you don’t need to be the funniest person at the dinner table to excel at this event. You don’t even have to think yourself funny at all. You only need to understand how to build a humorous performance by interpreting a written text.
A great HI include sound effects, exaggerated gestures, and absurdly unrealistic portrayals of characters. The key to the event is to choose humorous fragments of the text that best support the truth that you are trying to uncover for the audience.
A great HI also includes the portrayal of multiple characters (typically a minimum of 4 to a maximum of 12). So let’s say you have to play six different characters – what does that mean for you? Creativity! Creativity & character transitions, or pops, need to be noticeable, smooth, and instantaneous. Every character needs to stand out and have their own voice, stance, gestures, etc.

24. ACTIVITY: Best/worst

25. Poetry reading

26. What is Poetry?
First, let’s define what poetry is: “Poetry is writing which expresses ideas, experience, or emotion through the creative arrangement of words according to their sound, their rhythm, their meaning.” Thus, when defining this event, Poetry is the interpretation of a poetic story/expression in a particular time frame.
Anything you have read that is in verse and utilizes stanzas is poetry. All poetry selected for this event must be published, printed works and not from a work of drama. Aside from that, any type of poetry goes!
In Poetry, the performer is equipped with a small, black binder. The piece is to be placed within the book and read from. Well, the performer is to give the appearance that they are reading the selection by looking at the page every so often. The binder can be a fabulous tool when used effectively (holding it tight to your body alters your stance and gives a completely different vibe from holding the book at a comfortable distance, for instance). Melting the binder into you and your voice is an art that takes practice.

27. What makes a great Poetry?
For Poetry, the competitor can use more than one work of topic-related poetry (two poems from two different authors for example) to create a piece. Be reminded though that all poetry used needs to work together & have clear flow.
Use of multiple voices/characters is totally okay (just make sure each is easily recognizable and unambiguous). While performing Poetry, use of gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, intonation, and diction is crucial. This is poetry interpretation, so any action or alteration of voice needs to empower the work.
Adding this variety and texture with your body and voice keeps the audience interested and distinguishes you from people merely reading the words. The words need to come alive when you speak them. They need to fill the room and be perfectly understandable.

28. Prose reading

29. What is Prose?
Prose is expression through sentences and paragraphs. Or NOT poetry.
Any fiction or non-fiction published, printed novel or short story can be selected to be cut for a Prose piece.
If there are multiple characters, each one needs to be different as shown through body language, stance, and voice.
The Prose performer will have memorized the piece, however needs to give the impression that they are reading the story to the audience. The piece is “read” from a tiny, black binder held in the competitor’s hand.

30. What makes a great Prose?
Prose tells a story. A great Prose competitor will use diction, facials, gestures, eye contact, intonation, and pace (quickness/slowness/pauses) to their advantage.
Every choice made in Prose needs to benefit the piece and help tell the story and aid interpretation. Also, adding this variety and texture with your body and voice keeps the audience interested and distinguishes you from people merely reading the words.
The crispness of mental imagery you have when you read a novel or short story is what you need to strive for your audience to achieve through you.

31. ACTIVITY: PASS THE PLATE POETRY & PROSE

32. storytelling

33. What is Storytelling?
Storytelling is the perfect blend of Humorous Interpretation and Prose with the added bonus of getting to sit in a chair for your performance!
Students select a published children’s story to perform.
Storytelling themes range widely and may include mysteries, heroism, or fairy tales. Students select a story that would be appropriate for young children and tell the story as if presenting to that audience.

34. What makes a great Storytelling?
When considering what event you should choose, here are some traits of successful Storytelling students to keep in mind:
Animated Outgoing
High energy Captivating
Enjoys performing Confident
Engages an audience Enjoys working with children
A great storytelling has a recognizable and relatable theme (something that anyone can connect to), or better known as a “moral” of a story, distinguishable characters and voices, a lot of creativity and a lot of energy!
Effectively telling a story takes lots of practice, devotion, and creativity. You are being judged on how well you bring life to the story. The more work you have done interpreting the piece and understanding it, the better you can make the fantasy reality.

35. Program oral interpretation

36. What is POI (Program Oral Interp)?
Using a combination of Prose, Poetry and Plays, students construct a program using at least two out of the three genres. If you enjoy reading and think you would be good at creating a story from multiple pieces of literature, this would be a good event for you!
Program Oral Interpretation focuses on a student’s ability to combine multiple genres of literature centered around a single theme. Competitors are expected to portray multiple characters. No props or costumes may be used except for the tiny black binder the piece is held in.
POI is still new to high school Speech and Debate (it made it’s debut at Nationals this summer), so there is a lot of opportunity to excel in this event!

37. What makes a great POI?
Program Oral Interpretation relies on the performer’s ability to portray a wide range of characters and literature all held together under a common theme.
Each program must contain at least two of the three genres and students are encouraged to include all three. Students who are able to effectively use all three genres (prose, poetry, and plays) and utilize their binder to add to dramatic effect tend to be more successful.
What makes POI unique is the performer’s ability to choose what kinds of stories they want to tell and the way those stories are told. When deciding on a topic, think about what motivates you. What do you want to change about the world? Whom do you want to lend your voice to? By answering questions like this performers are given a strong sense of potential topics.

38. ACTIVITY: Story-story