In General Interp, Which Wins More: Dramatic Or Humerous?

[CrispinOfOrion]

In junior year, we have just one general Interpretation Of Literature category, meaning its not broken up into Dramatic or Humorous. In this case, which type of piece do you think would win in this category: Dramatic or Humor? Humor or Dramatic? I'm wondering because my brother is thinking about doing it next year and doesnt know which he should go for...so what do you guys think?

Remember, this is for JUNIOR year, not SENIOR...Most of the categories are different (such as this one).

[AfRiCaNHI]

You spelled humor wrong, right?

Well, is it possible that you're talking about DP (Dramtic Performance)? Well, whether you are or you aren't I think that humorous will have the advantage. HI's have more characters, and for a lot of judges, an 8 character HI is probably more impressive than a 2 character DI. Also, i believe that humor does have something to do with it. Many people prefer to laugh than cry. A lot of this is stuff that I've seen/experienced.

[Chewie]

In junior year, we have just one general Interpretation Of Literature category, meaning its not broken up into Dramatic or Humerous.

They already have this event...it's called duo. :P

Sorry, I don't mean to be an ***, but really, all we have to do is look to duo interp and see how the dramatic and humorous pieces compare there. In my experience, it's really been about 50/50, and the best performance, regardless of the theme, tends to win.

[CrispinOfOrion]

They already have this event...it's called duo. :P

Actually, its not duo interp. There is only ONE person performing, not two. This category I'm talking about is for the Middle School Speech Team, not High School, so its really different (we dont have duo interp in Junior, only duo acting and duo improve.)

Sorry about the spelling. I kinda had to get off quickly.

[Chewie]

They already have this event...it's called duo. :P

Actually, its not duo interp. There is only ONE person performing, not two.

It was just a joke, my good sir. I understood. I was merely stating that for the argument of which does better, humor or drama, we can look at duo interp, since it displays both.

[AfRiCaNHI]

I'll ask again: Dramatic Performance?

[CrispinOfOrion]

Oh, sorry, my bad, lol. Great, now I feel like an idiot. :) Sorry again chewchewtrain!

[CrispinOfOrion]

Its something like DP, yeah.

[ria]

interp of lit is similar to dp. it's the h.i. and d.i. of middle school, b/c they don't have these two separated. i never new middle school speech existed until high school, but i've helped coach some middle school kids since then. in my experience, like tuck said, if you can have both in a piece it's really good. if you can start the audience out laughing and end them on a tear, you've done something really good there.

[MauldinDebater]

Look at results from Emory... Dramatic wins.

[AfRiCaNHI]

Look at results from CFLs, HI wins.

[ria]

it's never going to be definetaly one or the other all the time.

[AfRiCaNHI]

Of course not, because you have people of different levels every year. Last year, the ultimate greatness was Natalie Sintek and this year it's either Mike Frawley or Kelly Balhke. No one person wins I guess. Here:

UPenn-HI
Villiger-DI
Emory-DI

Any other tournaments that have DP have slipped my mind, but there will never be a set winning event. Judges preference influences this too.

[Josiahzacks]

I feel like we see this exact same post every year, and the answer is always the same:

The best piece, either dramatic or humerous, will win.

sheesh.

[Chewie]

I feel like we see this exact same post every year, and the answer is always the same:

The best piece, either dramatic or humerous, will win.

sheesh.

Seconded. The best performance is generally the one that wins, and the nature of the performance is not a factor.

[addjsd12]

I will say this... from experience... for example: in OI if you are in a room with mostly humorous pieces and yours is dramitic and you go last and you do well.... WOW WOW WOW WOW... Dramatic pieces kill the others. But in DP its based on performance. But as i said before, if a good DI goes last then its tough to beat it!

[lilmcd86]

i think this is exactly how high school speech taints everyone, lol. there is such a big black and white division between pieces either being super funny or super serious. all in all, as tuck said before, having both aspects in your piece is more appealing and more realistic. thus, you're "gold." i think that's how the college circuit can best be described. pieces tend to hit quite a variety of emotions, and i think that tends to bring in all types of audience. in essence, there is something for everyone.
i know it's hard since there is blatant division (HI and DI,) but don't be afraid to something different with more substance. if you can hit an audience at an unexpected level, it just might make you stand out among the rest.

[ria]

may i point out: dp finals at CFL had only two serious pieces, and one of them took first place. and it wasn't even the one that had lots of funny mixed in w/the serious. in general, i think that humorous will win more, but this time it did not.

[tobnactress]

What I've noticed a lot (just look at cfls last year), is that humorous tends to break, but dramatic tends to win. Really, I think this is because the HI's can show off their flashy popping, but the DI's actually need to be acted well. Obviously there are exceptions, but yeah...