Written by Jason Stansell

In Interp events like Dramatic Interpretation (DI) and Humorous Interpretation (HI), students can choose from a wide variety of performance pieces. For Program Oral Interpretation (POI), however, you get the exciting challenge of weaving multiple types of pieces together into one cohesive performance. While this blog focuses on the individual strengths and challenges of using each type of piece in DI and HI, POI competitors can also use these insights to guide their selection and blending of multiple works.

1. The Long Monologue

They’re already written as a singular piece, many of which are even published specifically for competitive speaking.
Pro: You’re only one character, delivering a story or the like. Thus, you’re not having to switch between characters, not having to find the voice of multiple characters.
Con: You’re only one character, delivering a story or the like. As such, there’s less counterplay, no other character to play off of for your character’s emotions. As a result, things can often feel a bit flat with performances.
Pro: Most are specifically designed for competitive public speaking.
Con: You will often find them running from about five to eight minutes. Minimum time for Interp pieces is seven minutes, so many will be too short to actually use.

A great example of a long monologue is “Acceptance” by Carolyn West. While technically listed as a comedy, this piece that is essentially a “schrodinger’s cat” about one’s future but with an unopened acceptance letter from Julliard; can also be performed a bit more serious making it a drama. Another would be “Poverty” by Bobby Keniston. It’s about a highschool student who doesn’t understand why her mother “strongly encourages” her to volunteer at the local food bank. She enjoys helping but it makes her sad. Until the time recounted in this monologue which brings her to her own memory of her family struggling when much younger and why this is important work. 

2. Longform Poetry

Longform Poetry is an entirely unique beast. It’s typically a story set to rhyme and meter. That said, some can be singular characters narrating, or it can be a story with a few characters. Thus it earns its own standing here.

Pro: Unique, and tells a story in rhyme.
Con: One flubbed line can throw you completely off due to the rhyming scheme.

Some examples are “The Raven” by Edgar Allen Poe. It is a tale of a man who is grief-stricken, distraught, and emotionally exhausted after the loss of his love Lenore. Then there’s “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” by Dr. Seuss. It’s essentially Dr. Seuss’s way of telling young children about the ups and downs along the adventure of life.

3. The Short Story

Short stories are exactly what they sound like—stories that are short. They’re typically longer than a monologue and often include multiple characters and varied settings.

Pro: Everything happens within a short story within the condensed narrative. This means it’s much easier to construct your piece from it.
Con: Since everything does happen in such a condensed narrative, it’s much harder to cut bits for time without cutting important details needed for the conclusion of the short story.

A great example of a short story would be “The Oval Portrait” Edgar Allen Poe. One of the rare short stories that will be found that won’t need at least a little cutting, and in comparison to some of Poe’s works, a bit more tame while still interesting. There’s also “The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman. While it would need cutting for competition, it’s a story of a woman suffering from post-pardom depression who has been told by her physician husband to remain in a single room and to stay inactive. Sadly, this is the very opposite of what she needs and she loses touch with reality due to the isolation.

4. The Novel

Big books with big stories, need I say any more about what is a novel? However, unlike with a short story, you typically find so much to work with. Multiple characters, yet usually told from just they main character’s perspective, but not always. Lots of dialogue and lots of prose. Each novel is a schmorgusborg of options for cutting.

Pro: An abundance of titles to choose from.
Con: An abundance of titles to choose from.
Pro: A lot of text to cut from.
Con: A lot of text to cut from.

There are so many options to choose from for an example, that I don’t really know where to begin. “Hatchet” by Gary Paulsen works almost like a novel length monologue as it’s about a character trapped alone in the wilderness after a plane crash, with only a Hatchet to try to survive. Then there’s something like “Amira & Hamza: The Quest for the Ring of Power” by Samira Ahmed. A tale of a sister and a brother trying to stop an evil jinn from finding and using the Ring of Power to control everyone’s willpower. Each chapter switches between the siblings, allowing for you to portray two characters, distinctly, as you tell the narrative. Or how about “My Diary from the Edge of Forever” by Jodi Lynn Anderson. It’s a tale about a family trying to reach the edge of the world to escape the cloud of death they believe is coming to take the sickly, youngest sibling.

5. Skits and Scenes

Skits and Scenes are to plays, what short stories are to novels. They are short, usually self contained stories set in dialogue.

Pros: Multiple characters. This can also be a con, but as there are many skits and scenes with just two or three characters, it doesn’t quite qualify.
Con: Most skits and scenes fall just a little under or a little over time, and with dialogue being what sets the stage (no pun intended), and it being a condensed story, it’s much harder to cut something.

A recommended example would be “George’s Moon” from “Feiffer’s People” by Jules Feiffer. The publication presented as a play, however, it’s really a collection of comedic sketches and observations by Feiffer, though most of which are nowhere near long enough. In “George’s Moon” however is, and is about “…George, who lives on the moon, no kidding…” and his misadventures trying to discover “who he is, and how he got there.” There’s also “Organ Donor” by Deborah Karczewski. It’s a story about an organ recipient speaking to the donor whose heart she has received, and the spirit of that donor answering her, not to her face, but to the audience. Lastly, it’d be wrong to not bring up as an example, “Our Forensics Team is Getting New Unicorns” by Bradley Walton. A story about a misheard word, and an active imagination that leads to a student trying to hunt down the unicorns that their school’s Speech & Debate Team absolutely must be hiding.

6. Plays

It goes without saying that plays almost always involve at least two characters (about 99.8% of the time). Sure, there are “one-person plays” out there, but those can usually be grouped in with long monologues… just really long ones.

Pros: Multiple characters. That means that you can let your inner theatre bug loose and really perform your heart out.
Con: Multiple characters. Unlike with most scenes and skits, plays have a whole variety when it comes to the number of speaking parts. From two, to 30 or more.
Pros: An abundance of text to cut from.
Con: An abundance of text to cut from.

It is difficult to recommend plays as there are so many great ones, though the top ones from Broadway typically don’t do the best in competitive speaking. “Having Our Say” adapted for the stage by Emily Mann is based on the book of the same name by Sarah and Elizabeth Delany, is an exception. It’s one of the most entertaining two-person plays you could ever encounter, as the sisters recount stories from their lives. A lot of options to choose from, though I would recommend only African American females pick this one. “The Creation of the World and Other Business” by Arthur Miller is another great selection. It’s a comedic retelling of events in the Book of Genesis in the Bible, though it is neither as stuffy nor insulting towards Christianity as one might assume.

You may find some other possibilities, such as published movie scripts, but those can also fall under Plays, just as some long editorials and features from newspapers or magazines could count as monologues or short stories (even if non-fiction). No matter what you find, there are a plethora of options to choose from, and both Pros and Cons for each. Finding the best pick for you may take some time, and the best pick can also change over time. That said, picking a piece for an Interp event is not a destination, but rather a journey through some really great works… enjoy it.