CCHS Speech teams outstanding in Dubuque

By Thomas Nelson, tnelson@charlescitypress.com

The Charles City High School speech team came away with four outstanding scores for their five acts performed Saturday in Dubuque.

The speech team performed at the 2017 State Large Group Contest on Feb. 4. Previously, the team had come out of the District Large Group Speech contest Jan. 21 with five out of six performances earning a 1 or excellent rating.

All four acts that received 1s have the possibility of advancing to All-State.

“I think it went very well,” speech coach Mike Lembke said. “Four out of five of our categories got three 1s, that’s all three judges gave us a number 1 rating, the best rating you can get.”

They speech team won’t know whether it will make it to All-State Speech competition until Monday. Two out of three of those judges, that gave the groups 1s, also have to recommend them for All-State.

“It’s not a cut-and-dry system. It’s very subjective,”  Lembke said.

The improv group, both ensembles, and readers theater group all received straight 1s or excellent scores. The one-act play received a 2 or “good” score.

They have one improv group with senior Carissa Jensen and sophomore Mariah McKenzie.

The ensembles performed excerpts from William Shakespeare’s “Othello” and “Blithe Spirit.”  Junior Joe Iseneker and senior Nathaniel Reams performed “Othello.” Junior Ryan Wolfe, senior Kaitlyn Pellymonter and sophomore Ruby Peterson performed “Blithe Spirit.”

The reader’s theater performed a piece called “Greater Tuna.” It is about a small town in Texas, and the whole thing is based on a radio show serving the greater Tuna area, Lembke said.

The one-act play performed was “Check, Please.”

The  All-State performance will be Feb. 18 All-State in Ames. From there, judges will determine which performance is best in state.