Transcript How to Cut an Interp Piece

Katy Cecil
LaRue County High School
[email protected]
270-766-7994
 READ,
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READ, READ!!!
Several sites offer ready cut pieces
You will get your most creative pieces by cutting
your own
Look on amazon.com or go to the local bookstore
to find fresh material
When it comes to interp it is about telling a
coherent story or making a meaningful thematic
point (poetry) – most of us are literature
teachers. We know what makes a good story, the
trick is to figure out what will win.
 Use
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ready made or old cuttings when you can
Using pieces over again for novice students gives
them an opportunity to learn the activity without
burning a newer, fresher piece
Use pieces you have seen other competitors do –
especially if you have a kid who can do it as well
or even better – just don’t COPY the
performance – especially a national final
performance
Ask for help – lots of experienced coaches can
point you in the right direction when you are
looking for new material.
 Read
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the WHOLE book/play/story
You will never know if you are getting the most
out of the literature unless you read it all.
It’s possible to get a good cutting from just a
chapter or two, but you still need to read the
whole thing.
Sometimes you will miss the overall message or
theme if you don’t read it all, and you can cut
from all over the book, so to get the most out of
the piece, it’s worth it.
A
Pencil and Pen are must have tools – and
DO NOT CUT FROM LIBRARY BOOKS
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Invest in your own books. You’ll need them
anyway if you compete nationally.
Mark passages as you go that look promising or
interesting. Mark EVERYTHING either with
brackets, underlining, or highlighting. Fold the
corners of the pages down as you go, so you can
find the passages you bracketed easily later.
Marking the books is the BEST method (and I have
tried several) to make sure you can reproduce
the cutting if you ever lose your digital copy…
(Yes it has happened to me.) 
 Make
photocopies of every page from which
you cut
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Once you are done cutting the entire work,
photocopy all of the pages.
Put them in order the way you want the piece to
flow (this is not always in page order – I know
that’s weird, but it’s true).
Cut again, because this initial cutting is probably
30 minutes or more!
Cut by eliminating whole lines or paragraphs you
don’t really need for the story you are now
developing.
 Time
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the Piece
After the 2nd cut, it’s time to get a time on the
piece
It may still be WAY TOO LONG, but at this point,
you need to have a clear picture of how much
you need to eliminate.
Don’t tie yourself to any one part of the piece.
Only keep what is NECESSARY to tell the story
and keep it fresh.
The piece needs to read at no more than 8:30
once it is cut. Don’t forget you still have to add
inflection, emotion, and an intro…
 Cut
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more – time again – cut more…
You are going to have to let go of a lot of what
you LOVE!
You are only trying to tell part of a story. You
don’t have time to get the whole novel in, so be
willing to let parts go.
Again you are trying to get it to 8:30ish.
If you are at the 4th cut (third timing), and you
are still over 10 minutes, it’s time to call in
outside help.
 Give
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the piece to a trusted colleague
Have him/her read it to make sure it flows and
makes sense.
Have him/her suggest cuts (at this point it may
be a line or a phrase at a time) that will shorten
it but not hurt the integrity of the story.
If you have a very experienced upper classman,
you can have him/her look at it, as well.
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This would be rare in a beginning program.
 Add
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transitions to make the piece flow.
You CAN write in short transitional phrases or
words to make it flow.
You CANNOT write in whole sentences.
You CANNOT paraphrase to get the gist or to
shorten the story.
You CANNOT change or misrepresent the author’s
intent.
You CANNOT change the gender of a character in
the piece.
You CAN reorder the work to fit your cutting as
long as it does not alter intent.
 HI
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Cut multiple characters – if your student can
handle the different voices, having several
characters in HI is a good thing
Popping needs to be clean and clear
Sound effects are usually a huge hit
Any other kitschy think you can do to make the
performance over the top will go over well
 DI
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Can be multiple characters but monologues work
well.
Avoid the cliché of holding a drink in the hand.
A little humor goes a long way to making the
piece more realistic and believable – real life is
funny and sad…
 Prose
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Best idea is to find a book and cut from across
the novel.
Books full of short stories will also work.
If you see a piece by an author you like a lot,
chances are he/she has other books you will also
like. Look for those books to give you a
fresh/unused piece.
Put those authors on watch lists on Amazon.com
or BarnesandNoble.com so you will know when
they put new books out.
Look at suggested reading on those sites as well –
they usually will direct you to something else
that is similar and totally new!
 Poetry
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Poetry is harder than any other piece to cut.
Find an anchor poem you like
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Sometimes you can will hear one in another piece you
hear at a competition.
Sometimes you will run across one in a book.
Sometimes you will find them on YouTube by searching
for a subject or theme you find interesting.
Once you find your anchor poem, you can start
building the program around it by finding other
pieces that fit a common theme.
Splice poetry together – new trend.
Slam poetry is very popular.
Invest in poetry books.

Join NFL
Free videos of last year’s finals
 Tons of other online resources
 Chance to compete at nationals
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Watch Rounds
This is where you will get your best ideas
 You will find cutting ideas or discover authors
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Pre-Cut Pieces
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Speech Geek; Tibetan Tree Frog; Mushroom Cloud
Press; Brooklyn Publishers
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Usually these pieces are already cut to the 10 minute
limit.
The same exact cutting is available to anyone else who is
willing to pay the money.
YouTube
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One of the BEST resources for poetry and dec
 Avoid
piece cutting memberships like
4N6fanatics.com. They are never worth it.
 Online publishing is fine in state, but you
must have a book with ISBN number to
compete at nationals. Places like Tibetan
Tree Frog, Speech Geek, MushroomCloud
Press, etc. all have ISBN numbers with their
scripts.
 Finding and transcribing a poem from
YouTube is a tricky situation, because you
still have to find where that poetry is
published in a book. Make sure it is BEFORE
you use it!
 Pick
a monologue from the stack.
 Time it.
 Cut it to one minute (no grace period).
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Try to cut unnecessary information.
Stay true to the overall meaning.
Don’t alter gender.
 Write
a one or two sentence intro.
 Perform it!
You will be judged!!!