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On Apr. 7-8, at Cedar High School in Cedar City, Utah, Donnivan Kubota placed third overall in the Humorous Monologue category at the state drama competition. Fifteen of his NS peers obtained straight superiors.
“They did really well,” said NS drama teacher Alex Barlow, “especially because some of the schools we’re up against are really big schools.”
The drama department got seventh place out of seventeen schools that competed. Barlow believes that is because the department doesn’t have as many students competing in the contest as other schools they were contending against.
The drama department has grown each of the past three years. More and more students are joining drama and achieving the experience they need to progress as actors.
“I think we had about twice the kids as we had last year,” Barlow said. “The year before I got here I think they only took about five kids.”
Barlow helped the students prepare by coaching the teams, working on acts and having peers help each other to succeed.
“[Barlow] really pushed me with memorization and trying new things,” Kubota said.
Kubota earned his third-place medal with a lot of hard work and dedication.
“I think it really shows that I’m practicing and doing a great job,” Kubota said.
Kubota competed in the Humorous Monologue competition. During his preparation, he was faced with the challenge of making a not-so-funny monologue funny.
“I was thinking there had to be some way and one way I decided to do it was ‘alright I have to give it a voice,’” Kubota said. “So I give it a Shrek and then I gave Donkey.”
Kubota knew that the monologue needed a voice, but the Shrek and Donkey voices just didn’t quite fit.
“I was listening to the radio,” Kubota said. “And this really black stereotypical preacher came on, and I was like ‘That’s it!’”
Even though Kubota spent a lot of time and effort on his monologue, he still didn’t expect the outcome.
“There was like, super many people there and I was expecting to at least get a medal, but I got third,” Kubota said. “I was super surprised.”
Sophomore Bethany Lamb performed well receiving a straight superior for her monologue. Lamb didn’t know what exactly to expect going into the competition.
“At region, they praised us for some of the things we did,” Lamb said. “Then at state, they kind of hit the things that we thought we did good on and that the judges from region said we did good on.”
Lamb wasn’t the only one who felt the judges were different with their expectations. Barlow knows that the judging can be subjective, but he believes the experience is all worth it for his students.
“They go for the educational experience, and they go to grow as people and as actors,” Barlow said. “I think we definitely succeeded in that front.”
