SPEECH: O-M sends group to All-State

Orient-Macksburg is sending an entry to the All-State Speech Festival for the first time in school history.

“I have never been so proud of a group of kids as I am of these nine,” said Mrs. Kendra Breitsprecher, Orient-Macksburg speech coach. “Everything I asked them to do, they did. They had complete buy-in with the script and I’m pretty sure they had a lot of fun as well.”

After a less-than-impressive large group season in her first year at O-M, Breitsprecher decided to try something new: She’d write her own script based on her own experiences at Orient-Macksburg, exaggerated, of course, for comic effect. This led her to the creation of two characters: Miss Brand Newteacha, played by junior Carter Osborne, a first year eighth grade English teacher, and Mrs. Benhir Sincegodwasboy, played by senior Emily Campbell, a veteran English teacher. These two teachers combined just might make an autobiography of Mrs. B. In the reader’s theatre, these two teachers deal with a rag tag group of kids and go through all the normal school stuff like Homecoming and Christmas. In this effort they are aided by Superintendent Kowalski, who is more than a little obsessed with “A Streetcar Named Desire.”

“I had a junior last year that just loved this play and always wanted to read Stanley. Ironically, I really wanted him to go out for speech, but he was resistant. When I offered to write a part for him based on Stanley Kowalski, he jumped in and the rest is history,” Breitsprecher said. This actor was senior Patrick Fletchall.

The five eighth grade students are played by seniors Bridget Bracy, Kinsey Eslinger, and Rogue Paxon, sophomore Natalie Mullen, and freshmen Andreas Pierce and Kolbie Carson.

The team will be traveling to Iowa State University Saturday, February 17, for the All-State Festival.