Show and Tell

            My show and tell post will be on Speech and Debate by Stephen Karam. Speech and Debate had its world premier at the Roundabout Theatre Company in New York in October 2007. It later appeared at the American Theatre Company in Chicago, Illinois in April 2008. I have the script of this play because we just did a production of it at LSU and I was the stage manager for it.

            Speech and Debate is about a group of high school kids (Solomon, Diwata, and Hoiwe) in Salem, Oregon. The kids are brought together because of a scandal with the drama teacher at their high school Mr. Healy. The play opens with Howie having a sexually explicit IM conversation with an older man. The next scene is Solomon and a teacher having a conversation about controversial topics that Solomon wants to publish in the school newspaper. He wants to write an article about how the town’s mayor is gay. We then get to meet the third main character Diwata. Her scene opens up with her singing a song for a video blog that she is making. We eventually find out the Diwata is pregnant and it is hinted that the father is Mr. Healy. During the play we learn that the man Howie was chatting with at the start of the play was Mr. Healy. The biggest shocker we receive is when we learn that Mr. Healy has sexually molested Solomon. The knowledge that they all have something in common is what brings them all together. Diwata forms a speech and debate team with the other two and they perform a piece that somewhat depicts the story of them coming together. They perform the piece in front of a reporter who then talks about it on the local NPR station. This play is a very interesting coming of age story. It is also about identity and coming to terms with who you are.

           

            A very note worthy dramaturgical choice that Karam made is to have the titles of the scenes projected at the top of each scene. The scene titles are names of speech and debate events. The chat between Howie and Mr. Healy should also be projected. There is also a scene that Howie and Solmon tell each other abou a short story the each write has kids. The illustration from the stories is also projected. I believe the media in this play helps us to understand the world through the teenager’s point of view. The projections help the audience to better connect and understand the characters. The slides also help the audience to understand the passage of time in the world.

            Another dramaturgical choice that Karam made was to have the teacher and the reporter played by the same actress. I think this is note worthy because he is trying to make sure that the teacher that Solomon talks to in the second scene is not confused as the drama teacher. I also think it is interesting because in the world of the play the adults all look the same. This play is about the teenagers and how the adults in their life affect them. I feel like the choice to have one actress play the role of the teacher and the reporter demonstrates the fact that we should not really focus on those characters as much as we do the teenagers.