Midwinter’s Entertainment was held on Jan. 19 and 20. The two of the performances were student-directed one-act plays.  Zach Bales, senior, directed “Variations on the Death of Trotsky” and “The Great Pandemonium,” was directed by Kaitlin Moews also a senior.

            “The plays were funny and very well put together,” says Randy Stone, speech and theater instructor, of the student directed plays.

            Randy Stone directed a third one-act play, “The Insanity of Mary Girard.” This performance went on to district speech contest.

            Moews’s play is a comedy about a high school play during dress rehearsal and everything is going wrong. There were 10 people involved in the play.

            Bales’s play was set during the Russian Revolution. In the play Trotsky dies at the end. Bales says that the play is funny but is kind of sad at the end. There were eight variations. During each variation Trotsky learns more about himself.

            Bales also participated in district large group speech contest, which was held Jan. 21 at Clark High School in Osceola. Bales did a short film and an improvisation piece.

            His improv did not make it to state but his short film did. His short film is about a guy who is doing an interview of super natural experiences and he keeps on having flashbacks of his own experience.

            Stone says 10 groups participated in district large group speech competition. The winners of districts go to state, which is in Ankeny on Feb. 4. At district there are 15 different categories such as one-act plays, short film, choral reading and more. The groups perform in front of judges and they are ranked one, two, or three. If the group or person gets a one then they go to state.

            Tucker Lee was one of the participants at districts. He did an improv with Bales, Christian Hayden, Donovan Cole and Joe Krapfl.

            The winners of district competition were Ellen Keyser, Mckenzie “Fro” Feldman and Alex Lindsley. They also performed an improvisation piece. The short film that won was one that Bales wrote. The actors were Drew Bottorff, Cole, Natalie Swaim and Moews. Liz Reams and Rose Gilliam are going to state for ensemble acting. Ricarda Jungesblut, Natalie McCord and Emily Stoll are also going for ensemble acting.

            The improv group of Alex Lindsley, Fro, and Ellen Keyser won state and so did Zach Bales’s short film.