Pella hosts All-City Speech Night
Jan. 26—PELLA — Pella High School hosted the 17th annual All-City Speech Night, with dozens of students from both Pella and Pella Christian displaying their acting and performative talents.
More than 20 performances were held on Thursday evening, as students showed off what they'd been working on weeks, or even months. Both schools competed last Saturday at Pella High as part of the Iowa High School Speech Association's District Speech tournament. According to Suzanne Jones, director of speech for Pella High School, it's become the custom to hold All-City Speech Night after districts.
"So last week was districts — large group speech competition and every year, the year after districts, we do All-City Speech Night, and we just have all of our different events running throughout the evening," Jones said. "So it's just a nice way for us to just kind of see each other's material and bring the whole community together."
According to Marlo Van Peursem, director of speech for Pella Christian, this serves as a way for the students to showcase the acts they'll take to the State competitions, which will be held next Saturday at Pleasant Valley High School in Bettendorf.
"Because whenever you have an audience, it's going to look different. Plus then, a lot of family that aren't able to come to competitions can come and watch," Van Peursem said. "So that's kind of fun."
One of those involved was senior Abby Dart, the president of the Pella Christian Theater Troupe. For her part, she gave a performance for a scene from "Ordinary People" by Nancy Gilsenan, and also directed, choreographed and performed a scene from the "Catch Me if You Can" musical by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.
Dart has been a part of the All-City Speech Night since her freshman year. She had an early interest in theater from an early age, being taken to shows by her grandmother. However, it wasn't until the eighth grade that she caught the bug in earnest after watching her older brother perform in "Newsies."
"It was the first ever show my brother was in and my brother is not a person, but somehow, VP was able to get him to do it," Dart said, referring to Van Peursem. "And so I went and watched it and I was like, 'Oh my gosh. This is so good. I want to be a part of this.'"
Dart is taking her passions to the University of Iowa after graduation to double major in musical theater and dance. Rather than be a major performer, Dart said she hopes to open up her own playhouse to produce and direct at someday. But before all that, she got one last chance to join her friends for a time-honored Pella tradition.
"I've gotten to know a lot of theater kids from Pella, too, and so getting to have this night with them... just to do what we all love and perform and share important stories with the audiences, I mean, it's always been my favorite part of performing," Dart said. "So to do it for the last time with these really great people that I love very much — it's a little bit sad — but also just a really beautiful experience."
Pella has 16 events advancing to State out of 21 entries from their school, while Pella Christian has advanced seven of nine entries.
Donald Promnitz is the associate editor of the Ottumwa Courier and the Oskaloosa Herald. He can be reached at dpromnitz@ottumwacourier.com. Follow him on Twitter @DonPromnitz.
