Drama and debate team shows strength early

The high school drama, debate and forensics team is off to a good start on the season.

Tournaments at Haines and Mount Edgecumbe have seen the team’s senior debaters Matthew Covalt and Tyler Eagle go to the finals, according to debate coach Stephen Prysunka.

“I believe it’s the first time they’ve ever done it, and I believe it’s the first time at our school we’ve ever had kids go to a final in a tournament,” he said. “They came in second place, but it was two judges to one. They did a really good job.”

At the Haines meet, held Sept. 20 and 21, the team’s group reader’s theater squad, reading the script “Mutants Anonymous,” about a support group for people with mutant super powers, also made it into the finals. The event requires a team to read a script as a group. Participants may use facial expressions and gestures, but can’t move outside of a three-foot perimeter of their stand.

Molly Prysunka also made it into the finals for dramatic interpretation.

“At our first meet, we had two of our students made it into the finals,” the elder Prysunka said.

At the second debate of the season in Mt. Edgecumbe Oct. 11 and 12, Covalt and Eagle both made it into the finals again, eventually finishing in fourth place. A second debate team comprised of the younger Prysunka and Benjamin Florschutz also placed in the finals.

“They placed ninth out of 22 teams, and it’s the first time they’ve ever debated,” the elder Prysunka said. “I’m really pleased with that result.”

They were joined in the finals by the reader’s theater team of Malachi Cole, who went for original oration on the subject of public airing of trials and its effects on American society, and Benjamin Florschutz, who went on extemporaneous narration.

“Every student who went up there went into a finals competition,” the elder Prysunka said.

The team has capitalized on its success, and team membership increased from eight students to 15.

The accomplishment is particularly noteworthy given that unlike many athletic competitions, where schools compete against other schools of similar size, the drama, debate and forensics team competes against all schools.

Bigger schools “have drama/debate as a class,” the elder Prysunka said. “They get an hour each day and an hour after class. We just get an hour after class. For Matthew (Covalt) and Tyler (Eagle) to do what they did, it was really over the top.”

The drama, debate and forensics arena serves as an outlet for students without the desire to participate in school athletics, the elder Prysunka said. It also gives students an opportunity to explore social topics and material that might be a little edgier than they might otherwise encounter.

One student, Shawn Howell, performs a dramatic interpretation of a scene from the book “127 Hours: Between a Rock and a Hard Place” where the narrator decides to amputate his own arm with a knife to escape from a potentially fatal trap.

“It’s very, very dark, very, very dramatic, and really a neat piece,” the elder Prysunka said. “It’s sort of an academic pursuit in many ways. They’re not star basketball players. This is their only chance to perform in front of their community every two years. A lot of these kids are quieter, they’re the ones that are in the chess club.”

The drama, debate and forensics team continues their season Nov. 8 and 9 with the Wrangell home meet. The meet’s award ceremony and command performances will be Nov. 9 at 6 p.m., and the public is welcome to attend, the elder Prysunka said.