THEIR OWN KIND OF QUIRKY

ANCHORAGE — Wandering the halls of East High School during the statewide Drama, Debate and Forensics competition this weekend, a person could observe dozens of students talking to each other, themselves or even a blank wall.

And no one thought it was weird.

“Before (state) I thought there were only like, four like-minded people — people who are quirky, cool, odd,” said Dylan Gillim, a senior competitor for Wasilla High School. “Then I come here, and it’s just like, everyone’s like that.”

Wasilla High drama coach and teacher Dewayne Joehnk said that’s a common feeling for students at the annual event.

“A lot of the kids here have the same interests and talents, and it helps them realize they’re not alone,” Joehnk said.

In the Mat-Su Valley, few students know what Drama, Debate and Forensics (DDF) is, or that any local school — let alone Wasilla High — even has a team.

“A lot of people don’t know what DDF is at our school,” said Dianne Ivanoff, another senior competitor at Wasilla.

Fellow senior Korbin Sieverts said that’s not the case in the Lower 48. In his home state of Mississippi — where he transferred from this school year — DDF teams were more recognized, he said, and traveled around the country for competitions.

Sieverts said he never got to compete down south, though, since the events always conflicted with his JROTC, basketball, football or track practices.

His Wasilla sophomore teammate, Alexys Holsclaw, said the team kind of pokes fun at him for that.

“We shun him because he’s so social,” she joked.

Kidding aside (though there’s usually a lot of that) senior Wyatt Gag said it’s important for all the members of the team to click, as in sports and other group activities.

“If you can’t work with your team, you’re probably not going to do very well,” he said.

What is DDF?

At the state competition, there are 14 different categories of Drama, Debate and Forensics (public speaking), of which Wasilla students participated in Lincoln-Douglas debate, extemporaneous commentary, readers’ theatre, dramatic interpretation, pantomime and humorous interpretation.

Teams can consist of up to 15 students, with a limit of two or three entrants per category, depending on the category.

Gag, Gillim, Ivanoff and Sieverts formed a troupe to perform “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” for readers’ theatre, which gives students a maximum of 12 minutes to perform any cutting from a published, printed novel, short story, play, screen play or poem. Students must have the script in hand, but can use no props or sound effects not made with their own bodies. Readers may not touch each other or move more than three feet from their position at the start of the performance.

“We enjoyed ourselves,” Sieverts said.

Gag and Ivanoff also performed dramatic interpretations, as did Holsclaw, meeting their limit of entrants for the category.

For each of their 10-minute interpretations, the students could choose selections from pretty much any published novel, short story, play or poem. The selections had to be memorized, and during the performance, students were required to keep their movements within an imaginary 3-foot-by-3-foot box.

More than stories

All the Wasilla competitors said they chose pieces that were personally meaningful to them.

For Gag, it was “The Laramie Project,” a play by Moisés Kaufman that Gag acted in at Wasilla High last school year. The work describes one community’s reaction to the 1998 murder of a gay University of Wyoming student Matthew Shepard in Laramie, Wyoming.

“It’s a relatable piece to me, being gay,” he said.

Ivanoff performed part of “The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven,” a collection of short stories by Native American author Sherman Alexie. Having been born in Kotzebue to Alaska Native parents and grown up in a couple of Alaskan villages, Ivanoff ultimately found Alexie’s stories to be the best fit for the competition.

Holsclaw put herself in the shoes of a girl experiencing anorexia in her interpretation of Laurie Halse Anderson’s “Winter Girls,” a book she said she had read before she thought of joining DDF. Reading it a second time, the story made a stronger impression.

“I’ve been through stuff like that before so I thought I could do it well,” Holsclaw said. “(Anderson’s) emotions are so intense but they’re so real.”

Sieverts and Gillim also had personal connections to their pieces in different ways.

As the lone debater on the team, Sieverts spoke on whether private ownership of guns should be outlawed in the U.S. in the Lincoln-Douglas debate, and drew “Plato’s Philosopher King” as his topic for extemporaneous commentary, 20 minutes before he was scheduled to speak.

“I’ve always loved politics and government,” Sieverts said.

Gillim performed a work of his own making with Holsclaw in the pantomime category, telling the romantic tragi-comedy of a young couple ready to wed, only to find that one of them is a ghost.

“This was the first time we made someone cry,” Gillim said.

Final thoughts

Joehnk and his daughter Jada, a graduate of and assistant coach to the Wasilla DDF team, said they were proud of their students, however small the team may be.

“(DDF) is really tough, these kids are going through a lot for competitions,” he said. “We’ve got something good going on up here.”

Gillim said he wished he’d joined up sooner.

“This (being in DDF) has been like the time of my life,” he said.

Gag, bound for Minnesota State University-Mankato next fall, said he’ll miss the team, but hopes more people will be a part of DDF in the future.

“It takes a lot of time and practice but it’s super fun and I love doing it.”

Contact reporter Caitlin Skvorc at 352-2266 or caitlin.skvorc@frontiersman.com.