We appreciate your interest in purchasing oral interp scripts from SpeechGeek Market! We know that state and national forensic organizations have different requirements for literature used in competition. In order to make your search for qualified scripts easier, we've compiled the following information.

VENDORS

There are four different publishers in SpeechGeek Market: SpeechGeek, Mushroom Cloud Press, Tibetan Treefrog Publishing, and the forthcoming (extra)ordinary, (un)usual series from author Pete Malicki.

ORDERING

Most scripts available in SpeechGeek Market are available in digital and print copies. The base price listed is a digital PDF copy of the script. Once you complete your online order, you will receive an e-mail confirmation from the store and a notification e-mail from FetchApp. The notification e-mail will contain a link that will take you to the page where you can download your file. The link will be active for two months or fifteen downloads, but we will be happy to reactivate your link should you need to re-download your purchase.

For a small fee, you can choose the "Digital + Print" option when ordering. Simply click the drop down menu to select this option.

Your print copy will ship within 48-72 hours of your order confirmation. At this time, there is no "Print Only" option for the scripts in our store.

DIGITAL SCRIPTS

Digital scripts from SpeechGeek and Mushroom Cloud Press are approved for competition by the National Speech and Debate Association. Your digital download will come with a username and password to access the digital copies. Please do not distribute this information to other people or programs, as it is intended for qualification verification purposes. If you should lose the information, just contact SpeechGeek Market with your order number.

DISTRIBUTION

When you purchase scripts from SpeechGeek Market, you're able to download the files to your computer and print copies as needed. Please do not post copies of the script on publicly accessible websites or servers. We have found that while some schools may have such servers available to staff and students, a quick internet search allows people free access to materials they haven't purchased. Preventing unauthorized distribution of scripts allows publishers to continue to create new content for folks to enjoy! have any questions, feel free to contact us.

ISBNs

Have no fear! The publication sold within the SpeechGeek Market contain ISBNs! Check the list below for the issue you may need.

MUSHROOM CLOUD PRESS

Clyde Hendrickson Vol. 1
ISBN 978-0-9844878-1-3

Clyde Hendrickson Vol. 2
ISBN 978-0-9844878-2-0

Drama Vol. 1
ISBN 978-0-9844878-6-8

Drama Vol. 2
ISBN 978-0-9844878-7-5

Humor Vol. 1
ISBN 978-0-9844878-3-7

Humor Vol. 2
ISBN 978-0-9844878-4-4

Humor Vol. 3
ISBN 978-0-9844878-5-1

Humor Vol. 4
ISBN 978-0-9844878-8-2

SPEECHGEEK

SpeechGeek Season One: Fall 2003

978-1-61387-000-6

SpeechGeek Season Two: Winter 2005

978-1-61387-002-0

SpeechGeek Season Three: Fall 2005

978-1-61387-004-4

SpeechGeek Season Three: Winter 2006

978-1-61387-005-1

SpeechGeek Season Three: Spring 2006

978-1-61387-006-8

SpeechGeek Season Four: Fall 2006

978-1-61387-008-2

SpeechGeek Season Four: Winter 2007

978-1-61387-009-9

SpeechGeek Season Four: Spring 2007

978-1-61387-010-5

SpeechGeek Season Four: Nationals 2007

978-1-61387-011-2

SpeechGeek Season Five: Fall 2007

978-1-61387-012-9

SpeechGeek Season Five: Winter 2008

978-1-61387-013-6

SpeechGeek Season Five: Spring 2008

978-1-61387-014-3

SpeechGeek Season Five: Nationals 2008

978-1-61387-015-0

SpeechGeek Season Five: Anniversary

978-1-61387-016-7

SpeechGeek Season Six: Fall 2008

978-1-61387-017-4

SpeechGeek Season Six: Winter 2009

978-1-61387-018-1

SpeechGeek Season Six: Spring 2009

978-1-61387-019-8

SpeechGeek Season Six: Nationals 2009

978-1-61387-020-4

SpeechGeek Season Seven: Fall 2009

978-1-61387-021-1

SpeechGeek Season Seven: Winter 2010

978-1-61387-022-8

SpeechGeek Season Seven: Spring 2010

978-1-61387-023-5

SpeechGeek Season Seven: Nationals 2010

978-1-61387-024-2

SpeechGeek Season Eight: Fall 2010

978-1-61387-025-9

SpeechGeek Season Eight: Winter 2011

978-1-61387-026-6

SpeechGeek Season Nine: Fall 2011

978-1-61387-027-3

SpeechGeek Season Nine: Winter 2012

978-1-61387-028-0

SpeechGeek Season Ten: Fall 2012

978-1-61387-038-9

SpeechGeek Season Ten: Winter 2013

978-1-61387-039-6

SpeechGeek Season Ten: Anniversary

978-1-61387-042-6

SpeechGeek Presents: Female/Female Duos, Vol. 1

978-1-61387-029-7

SpeechGeek Presents: Female/Female Duos, Vol. 2

978-1-61387-032-7

SpeechGeek Presents: Female/Female Duos, Vol. 3

978-1-61387-033-4

SpeechGeek Presents: Female/Female Duos, Vol. 4

ISBN: 978-1-61387-047-1

SpeechGeek Presents: H.I.-larious, Vol. 1

ISBN: 978-1-61387-043-3

SpeechGeek Presents: H.I.-larious, Vol. 2

ISBN: 978-1-61387-044-0

TIBETAN TREEFROG PUBLISHING

Book One
ISBN: 978-1-61387-049-5

Book Two
ISBN: 978-1-61387-050-1

Book Three
ISBN: 978-1-61387-052-5

Book Four
ISBN: 978-1-61387-051-8

Book Five
ISBN: 978-1-61387-053-2

Book Six
ISBN: 978-1-61387-054-9

Book Seven
ISBN: 978-1-61387-055-6

Book Eight
ISBN: 978-1-61387-056-3

Book Nine
ISBN: 978-1-61387-057-0

Book Ten
ISBN: 978-1-61387-058-7

Book Eleven
ISBN: 978-1-61387-059-4

Every social media site seemingly has its own personality. Wanna get to know other people? Creep around on Facebook. Need to share your random thoughts? Tweet it out on Twitter. Prefer to express yourself in pictures and GIFs? See you around Tumblr. 

While I've had a Pinterest account for over a year, I couldn't shake my initial impression of the site. Pinterest seemed perfect for people who wanted to swap recipes, crafts, and wedding ideas. There was cute stuff on there. But when you're already committing time to other social media outlets (and probably more time than you should), a site needs to be more than just cute to earn time and attention.

If you're not familiar with Pinterest - the premise is simple and the site is easy to navigate. Essentially, Pinterest is a bookmarking site. A "pin" is an image that is accompanied by a description and/or a link to an external web page. "Boards" allow you to collect and organize your pins. Users can browse pins that are posted in a variety of categories ranging from food, drink, crafts, and fashion to science, technology, history, and literature. If someone has posted a pin that you like, you can re-pin it onto one of your boards. If you're browsing the internet and come across a webpage you want to save, Pinterest makes it easy to simply paste the link and post it to one of your boards. Most boards are public - but you can have up to three "secret boards" that only you can view. The Yummy Life has a great tutorial on using Pinterest, and there are videos to walk you through the process as well (such as this one).

Click here to visit SpeechGeek Market on Pinterest.

After trying to find a way to pull together all of the random links, articles, and videos for forensics I had bookmarked on various computers, e-mailed to myself, or screen-grabbed on my phone - it dawned on me. "Why not just put them all on Pinterest?" The site became the perfect organizational tool and a way to share ideas while collecting a few hidden gems. Plus, the Pinterest app is widely available for free on Apple and Android  devices. Need more convincing? Here are ten ways you can utilize Pinterest to prepare for forensics (listed in no particular order):

1. Save articles  and topic ideas for public speaking events. The first two on our list make use of secret boards. Sure, you may be able to bookmark an article on your desktop into a folder or e-mail the link with a description to yourself. The benefit of creating a secret board for topics are two-fold. First, you can keep all your topics together in one central location. Second, you can use the description box to leave yourself notes such as how the article can be turned into a speech topic or what person might be interested in reading it. By using a secret board, you don't have to worry about anyone stumbling across your great ideas.

2. Create a reading list of potential interp pieces. Again, another great use of the secret board. Sometimes you'll stumble across a short story online, but you don't have time to look up the author, search to see if and where its published, only to need to bookmark the site (if it isn't on Amazon). Plus, if your school is responsible for making the purchases, you're often encouraged to lump everything together. The description box, again, can be used to make notes about potential performers/events. By creating a secret board for interp literature pins, you're able to collect a list of options to return to when you're ready to order materials.

3. Browse  quotations to use as exercises  for limited preparation speakers. When you log in to Pinterest, you can click the red icon in the upper left hand corner of the screen. You'll be provided with a list of categories from which to choose. Clicking "Quotes" will allow you to browse and re-pin from hundreds of quotations. Whether you're working on impromptu, extemp, or debate - using quotations to practice analysis, interpretation, and argumentation is always a useful exercise.

4. Bookmark infographics  and interesting information for  attention getting devices  or examples. You don't always have to have an immediate use for a pin. I love collecting bits of trivia, stories, and examples. You can browse the technology, geek, science, nature, and history categories to collect things that are "neat-to-know." They can be added to a limited prep speaker's repertoire of knowledge or used as attention getting devices or examples in a public speech.

5. Hold onto inspirational sayings for team pump-up talks.  Sometimes you need to say more than, "Speak pretty everybody!" You'll find plenty of inspirational and motivational quotations on Pinterest to save for those days when warm-ups aren't doing the trick.

6. Manage a playlist of videos for performance tips and ideas.  Have you ever watched a video and thought, "That character is hilarious! They would be great in an H.I." or "I'd love to incorporate some of this movement into a Duo!" Videos can be great inspiration for performances. Use clips of celebrity impersonators to discuss vocal distinction. Cartoons are a great way to introduce basic, broad characters to new performers. Is there a cinematic clip that can inspire a dramatic performer? It's easier to hop over to a board of videos to reference than it is to try to search for the video you want (or worse, try to describe what you watched a few weeks ago).

7. Illustrate a variety of style options for tournament appropriate  attire. Research indicates that anywhere from 70 - 90% of communication is non-verbal. That means that to some degree, a competitor's appearance is communication a lot about that person before they begin their event. Most forensics tournaments encourage looking tidy and professional, but this doesn't mean competitors must spend a great deal of money to "look the part." A tournament attire board can illustrate a broad range of what is considered tournament appropriate attire. Pins on pairing shirts and ties, versatile and comfortable shoes, suits, hem lengths, and accessories can inform a student on what to look for or provide guidance in creating a professional appearance with the clothes they already own.

8. Hair, make-up, and grooming tutorials  can be useful. As previously mentioned, forensics isn't a beauty pageant but our appearances send non-verbal communication. A competitor's hairstyle or make-up doesn't have to be elaborate to be polished and professional. Still, discussing personal appearances remains a sensitive subject. A Pinterest board of "tournament ready" looks for hair, make-up, and facial hair can be an effective supplement to general discussions of what a coach or team considers competition appropriate appearances. Individuals can browse the pins for inspiration, ideas, and tutorials to achieve a look that is within their comfort zone without feeling singled out or embarrassed.

9. Collect remedies for tournament troubles. Speakers lose their voices, pop buttons, rip panty hose and face all sorts of other tribulations at tournaments. If you're lucky, you have back-up supplies in your bag. If not, it always helps to have tips saved from the DIY and health & fitness boards to help you out.

10. Add flair to tournament hosting  with recipes and decorating tips. Let's not forget the hallmark of Pinterest: recipes and decorating. Coaches have their hands full when it comes to running a tournament. Tournament hosting, however, can be an awesome exercise in team work and hospitality. Pinterest is great at providing ideas that utilize items you already own. Browse party planning and decorating boards for tournament theme ideas. Students can be assigned tasks from making signs to centerpieces, or even simple recipes to put in the lounge. There are plenty of opportunities for students to help host an awesome tournament while coaches are busy with entries, schematics, and running tab.

There's no limit to the number of ways you can utilize Pinterest in your forensics preparation. You can keep some boards secret but you can also share pins with other competitors and coaches. Make sure to follow our boards on Pinterest for inspiration, ideas, items from the store, links to articles about forensics, and anything else we think would be of interest to fellow speech geeks!

Renaissance man (noun): a term referring to a person with profound knowledge or skill in a variety of subjects. 
Foren-aissance woman (noun): a term referring to a forensicator exhibiting profound talent or success in a variety of subjects. [See: Shannon "Shanny Jean" Maney]

Her competitive success earned her a spot in the National Forensic Association Hall of Fame. Her first book of poetry, "I Love Science," was named by the Chicagoist as one of the Top Five Chicago-Authored Books of 2012. She is co-creator of the wildly popular live variety show series, The Encyclopedia Show, which can be found in nearly a dozen major cities across the world. Don't get too intimidated. As a high-school speech coach, she may end up judging you in a round. 

We were thrilled to be able to chat with Shanny Jean about forensics, performing, poetry, and the best advice she can give to competitors.

Tell us a little bit about yourself
I grew up in beautiful Ottawa, IL where I competed in high school, and attended Illinois State University in Normal, IL, where I competed in college. I live in the Normal area again with my husbo and dogs, so I guess you could say I’m from Normal… I know, I know. It’s soooo ironic.

How did you get involved in forensics?
In my high school, the rumor was that if you wanted to get good parts in plays, you had to be on the speech team. At the time, that’s exactly why I did it—for plays. Then in college, I joined the team because they were recruiting on the quad, and I had nothing better to do. I thought I’d just go to a meeting “to see what it was about.” After college, my husband and I moved to upstate New York, and we were there for about two weeks before I contacted one of the colleges in our town to offer my services to their speech team. That’s when I started my career as a coach—I was a young kid coaching the team at Cornell University. Now I’m coaching high school speech, and I think I like it best of all. The satisfaction of seeing someone find forensics for the first time is so awesome and satisfying. You remember what it was like when you found out there was an activity just for you. Imagine getting to see that moment again and again, year after year. It’s the best.

What were your favorite events?
HA. Um. That’s hard. I don’t like to pick favorites! In high school: Humorous Duet Acting, Original Comedy and Prose. (Illinois speech has crazy events!) In college: Prose, Poetry and After Dinner Speaking. And Duo. And Impromptu. Just kidding. I was terrible at Impromptu.
 

What was your favorite piece/speech you performed? What was it about and what did you enjoy the most about it?
Like anyone who did speech for a long time, that’s a tough one to answer. Probably the After Dinner Speech I wrote my junior year of college. It was about women’s menstrual periods and how damaging it is to make that a taboo subject. I loved that speech. It was one of the first times that I wrote something that was 100% my own style—I had figured out what I liked about myself as a writer and a performer, and I showcased those things. I was so proud of that speech every time I performed it. It just made me feel good. There’s no doubt in my mind that that speech is where I learned my chops for my work as a performance poet.

Tell us about the Encyclopedia Shows...how they're different from 'traditional' theater?
The Encyclopedia Show is a literary variety show that looks at a different theme each month. We bring in a handful of artists, writers, musicians, comedians, and give them a month to write about an assignment. We do quirky, goofy stuff between the performers, but it’s definitely less like theatre and more like a combination of a poetry slam and vaudeville.

How did the Encyclopedia Shows come into fruition? What was the first one about?
I started The Encyclopedia Show with my friend (and former speech teammate) Robbie Q Telfer. We had run a poetry slam in Normal, IL during college, and a few years later, we were like, “It’s time to do something new.” Robb had this idea for a show, and we started developing it, and about six months later, we produced the first ever Encyclopedia Show. The first show was about Bears, and it was a little clunky, but it had so much heart. I remember that the week of the show, I watched the pilot episode of Saturday Night Live. It was a little rough—in hindsight, you could see exactly what the show was going to turn into, even if it wasn’t there at the start. That’s kind of like what our first show was like.

What cities are there currently Encyclopedia groups performing?
Chicago! Austin, TX! New York! L.A.! Washington D.C.! Omaha! Boston! Phoenix! Seoul, South Korea! And there are others. It’s sort of amazing.

You're also a published poet! What can you tell us about your book of poetry, "I Love Science?"
WAHOO! I am a published poet! It makes me so proud! I Love Science! is a book about a lot of things—some of them fun, some of them heartbreaking. Books of poetry aren’t like novels, really. It’s not like you can say, “This book is about ___.” You say, “It’s sort of about ____, but it’s also about _____.” I was watching a round of poetry at a speech tournament where a girl I didn’t know was performing “I Love Science!” and according to her intro, it’s a funny and heartbreaking poetic autobiography. I like that. (See!? People do listen to intros!) By the way, CAN YOU IMAGINE performing in a round where it turns out the writer of your program is watching?! I can’t imagine it. When the round was over, I went over and introduced myself. We were both FREAKING OUT.

Where do you find inspiration for your poetry?
Depends on my mood! If there is something gnawing on my brain, I have to sit down and figure out what is bothering me so much. In that way, my life is the biggest inspiration. If nothing’s going on and I’m feeling fancy-free, then the world is my oyster. In that case, I can write about whatever I want. It’s weird to say that I can’t always write about whatever I want, but sometimes, I just can’t. Sometimes, there are things I absolutely have to write about, just so I can clear my brain enough to look at other things.

On top of all of that...you also continue to help coach in forensics. What's the biggest piece of advice you'd give current competitors?
Yep! I love speech, and I love coaching it. It makes me a better performer and writer, and being a writer and performer makes me better able to coach. It’s a good balance. My advice to forensics competitors? First of all, trust yourself and be yourself. The thing that makes some people electric in performances is they really seem to know what makes them shine. Figure out what it is that makes you shine, and do that thing. Be yourself. If you can be yourself and have fun, you won’t care about the rest of it so much. The second piece of advice isn’t really advice at all, but that’s okay since there’s no rebuttal after this. As competitors, you have only just begun to see the impact that speech will have on your life. I’m thirty, and I am only just beginning to see the impact speech has on my life. I am a lot of things--a performer, a writer, a teacher, a coach. If I hadn’t done speech, I wouldn’t be any of these things. I use the skills I learned competing every single day, and I use them in the things I like doing the most. I am so proud of the work I have done.

From Ugly Betty to his new sitcom, Partners, it's hard to imagine actor Michael Urie having enough time to direct and film the documentary, Thank You For Judging. During the 2007-08 tournament season, the former NFL D.I. National Champion took a film crew to his alma mater - Plano Senior High School in Plano, Texas - to follow the team on their path to the state tournament. After traveling through the documentary film circuit, the film is now available to download for $4.99, with additional packages offering bonus features including supplemental videos, buttons, hoodies, and even a Skype session with co-director Michael Urie.

Of the team members featured in the film, one senior would go on that same year to become the national champion in Oratory at NFL. Hoàng Ngoc Nguyên, Jr. (You can call him Mario, though, "it's easier to pronounce.") charmed audiences with his speech, "I'm a Tom Girl," which you can purchase for download alongside the documentary. We caught up with the speaker to find out more about competing with film crews, important life lessons he learned from speech, and what life had in store for him after the cameras stopped rolling.

How did you get involved in forensics?

I technically competed in my first speech and debate tournament in the third grade. There was only one tournament a year, it had poetry, prose, and an extemp-like category, and was held by district. I was so nervous in the final round that I asked to start over, yet, (somehow) I won. I was so young I didn’t even know it was actually speech and debate I was doing. Later, I started doing theatre in the sixth grade, but was always disappointed with the roles that I was given because of my physical appearance (e.g. beggar #2, someone’s child). It was when a language arts teacher told me that I should join the speech team that I finally did. I intended on doing debate, but then I found individual events and there was no turning back.

What events did you do in high school?

In high school I did Humorous and Dramatic Interp, Original Oratory, Duo, and Impromptu. Oratory and HI were undoubtedly my favorites. I particularly loved OO because it gave me the opportunity to articulate the issues that personally affected me. And as a 17 year old, the chance to have people listen to you can really empower you to believe in yourself. For example, my OO my senior year was basically a catharsis for me finally coming to terms with my sexuality. The topic focused on the double standard in gender bending, and how women were more easily allowed to take on traditionally masculine traits than men who are given less flexibility in doing so.

How did you choose that topic?

I wasn’t a particularly masculine guy growing up, particularly because of my size (5’4”) and I had wanted to address this in my OO. My coach and I had been searching for ideas, and after tons of looking for something that personally affected me, my coach had gone home and chatted with her husband about it, and the beginnings of this idea started. Over a series of meetings following we developed it until it became what it became.

What do you remember about performing in finals of Oratory at the 2008 NFL National Tournament?

For the national performance, I was devastatingly sick. I had caught a desert cold (Las Vegas) and would have been unable to perform the day before, which is when finals for OO were supposed to be scheduled, but for the first time (for some strange reason) they were scheduled the following day. So when I went out on stage, I spit out my cough drop, blew my nose, and was on two different medications. But, I made sure I did the one thing my coach told me, I took it all in. Before I started I remember looking at the entire crowd, all waiting for me to speak, and I thought, “I’m just happy my message gets to reach this many people.”

What is the documentary about?

The documentary, Thank You for Judging, includes a clip of me winning nationals, but it primarily focuses on the state tournament of that year. My team, and about two or three others were followed around all year and up until that tournament, and the film basically takes you through a state tournament and everything that goes into that. I think that the experience made everyone at the state tournament feel valued, like we were getting the attention we finally deserved. And we all competed harder because of that.

It’s been a long time since the documentary was shot, and a lot has happened since then.

What have you done in the time since you graduated high school?

After high school, I went on to compete in college forensics at Western Kentucky University. There, I was really transformed into who I am today. Thanks to the university’s guidance, I am currently living in México City on a Fulbright grant and deferred to one of the top 30 law schools in the nation.

How has participating in forensics contributed to where you are now?

I honestly am very blessed and owe a huge thanks to Forensics. Forensics taught me how to articulate the pain I had felt all my life. I was a gay, first-generation American, with an undocumented immigrant mother who was divorced from my Vietnamese war refugee father, with four other siblings living below the poverty line. Yet, I didn’t know how to put all of that into words because it was just my life. Forensics showed me how to deal with all of that, use it as motivation, and to believe in myself, and people like me. Most importantly, it gave me a voice and the power to believe I was capable of enacting change -that I was worth something. And that is the very core of who I am now, and why I am where I am. My big hope is that some kid out there reads about me and realizes that they have the strength to fight whatever it is they’re going through because they can relate to me.

What is the best advice you received before going into competition?

I think the best piece of advice I received before competing was from my high school coach. I was at a tournament my senior year and terrified because I walked into a round with a judge in full military coveralls. I thought for sure I was getting a six and figured I might as well not even try. But my high school coach told me that there was nothing I could do to control that, all I could do was deliver my message because I had no idea who needed to hear it. And that’s something I try to do in my everyday life. It just so happened I ended up getting a one in that round, and the judge wrote some amazing comments about my speech. And it’s that lesson that’s my advice to anyone struggling in Forensics, or in struggling to decide what to do after you graduate, or anything in life. Even if the odds are against you, commit and own who you are. Don’t let anyone define who you are, or who you should be.

Still want more Mario? Visit his website for more information!

Nothing makes those of us at SpeechGeek geek out more than seeing former forensicators find success in the “real world.” After all, what could be more fun than pointing to a television screen, magazine page, or news site and being able to say, “I saw them at a tournament!” or “I competed with that person!” Speech is a wonderful community and it’s great to celebrate the competitors, alumni, and coaches who go on to do cool and amazing things.

That’s why we were happier than getting straight ones in finals when we learned that Dan Johnson, an H.I. finalist at the 2006 NFL National Tournament, was cast in MTV’s new scripted comedy, Underemployed. In an exclusive interview with SpeechGeek, the Chicago actor talks “Trash,” pursuing acting, and some tips for competitors who want to make performing their profession.

SPEECHGEEK: Thanks for joining us! Let’s start off with your forensics origin story. How did you get involved in speech?

DAN JOHNSON: I was introduced to speech in 8^th grade via a visit from the speech team where I would later go to high school, Harry S. Truman High School in Independence, Missouri. There was a small assembly where my two best friends and I sat in awe of all these individuals who got to perform in front of people, and be all these different characters. I was definitely drawn to the individual event side of speech. After the assembly my friends and I looked at one another and basically swore an oath to join the high school speech team.

Later on in the year there was an activity fair held at Truman High where I met the speech coach, Kimberly Lenger. I immediately fell in love with her, and what I failed to picked up on was that she was immediately over me. She told me, years later, one of the first questions she asked herself was, “Who does this obnoxious kid with the ‘fro think he is?” Luckily I used my charm to win her over in the years following.

SG: It’s good to know that first impressions aren’t always lasting ones. Once you joined the team, what events did you compete in?

DJ: While at Truman, I dabbled in Duo, Storytelling, had a mighty brief stint in D.I., but mostly lived in the land of Humorous Interp. After Lenger (the name I will never not call my high school coach) showed us a DVD of one of the final rounds of H.I., I was hooked. I made it my goal to be in the final round of H.I. at some point in my high school career. H.I. became my main squeeze. This was the event that made it less weird for me to showcase my “schizophrenic” tendencies.

Amazingly, after almost four years of honing, I made it to the final round in H.I. at the 2006 NFL tournament held in Dallas, TX. My piece was called “Trash” by and Australian man named Andy Griffiths. It was about a kid whose parents were crazy about their son, aptly named “Andy,” taking out the trash. A cute story where Andy goes on a quest after waking up late, missing the trash man, somehow winding up INSIDE the trash truck, and finally being spit out in front of his boyhood crush, “Lisa.”

SG: Ouch, poor Andy. What was it like performing in the final round of H.I. at the NFL National Tournament?

DJ: After the postings for finals came out, Lenger and I went to a Mexican fast food chain where I ate, I think, two bites of my food. I was nervous. I had gotten out of my suit to relax before I had to go to the sound check at the stage where I would be performing. I hadn’t thought to put my suit back on, mostly because there were still 3 or so painstaking hours of waiting before I would have to take the stage in the ballroom of some big hotel in downtown Dallas. So, when I showed up in my plaid shorts, white polo, and flip flops, everyone looked at me like I was DEFINITLEY in the wrong place. The man conducting the sound check session asked where the sixth competitor was, and when I raised my hand, he gave me a look as if to say, “…well, good luck, pal…”

I didn’t mind much, especially after I saw the reassuring look Lenger gave me. I don’t remember a darn thing about the round itself, aside from the moment when I turned to the side, while performing, and saw myself on the big screen that was next to the stage. It was a “WOAH” moment. I ended up getting fourth place in the round and couldn’t be happier about it.

SG: That sounded like an amazing way to end your senior year. What happened after you graduated from high school?

DJ: I went on to compete for two years at Western Kentucky University on the collegiate level. I found some of my best friends at WKU and I also learned a TON there. Not only more technique but also the intangible stuff that will stay with me for the rest of my life - the number one thing being a strong work ethic. The amount of travel and practice helped me realize that I’m working not only for myself, but also for the team, and ultimately for the sport of speech and debate as a whole. Everyone who participates in this amazing art form is keeping it alive and thriving. After my second year at WKU, I decided to transfer to The Theatre School at DePaul University. I came to the conclusion that I needed to focus more on the craft of acting for the stage and for the camera.

The work ethic that I developed while at Truman and WKU also helps me in my professional life today. Every time I get a script or a side to memorize and breakdown, all the ideas, techniques, and exercises that were instilled in me over the years goes into that work.

SG: Which brings us to today. What can you tell us about the MTV comedy Underemployed and your character on the show?

DJ: The show is written and produced by Craig Wright. It’s about five recent college graduates who are working low/no-paying jobs and maneuvering life in that circumstance. My character, “Jamel,” is a recurring character that gets involved with one of the main characters over the course of the season. “Jamel” is a drummer in a band and a computer game designer. Although the show is called a comedy, it also deals with some drama and some of it includes some adult situations like sex. But, it’s done in a tasteful way – nothing too raunchy at all! The show is 12 episodes total and airs every Tuesday at 9pm central on MTV.

SG: What tips would you give to forensicators who want to pursue a career in television, film, or theater?

DJ: Some things that forensicators who want to act should do in order to start: JUST DO IT. Research classes that seem interesting, read plays (which most of you are already doing a lot of), write, and get a group of friends together and just play. Being in the speech realm is a great place to be because you’re already surrounded by a bunch of artists. Just be brave enough to get together and do something new. The biggest revelation I came to while at The Theatre School was that good actors are fearless ones. Speech begins to breed the fearlessness through the nature of the sport: you get up in front of a room of people, by yourself, and you speak – which according to… well, the world… is the world’s most terrifying thing. And not only are you speaking, you’re speaking about things that are new, things that are controversial, but above all else – you’re speaking about things that you believe in.

SG: Finally, what is the best advice you’ve ever received that you’d like to pas along to our readers?

DJ: Greatest piece of advice anyone has ever given me EVER, whether it was before I entered a round, went into an audition, or stepped on stage was, “Have fun.” It’s simple, but it’s the best way to walk into any situation and succeed.

SG: Thank you so much for chatting with us, Dan! Best of luck!

You can catch Dan on MTV’s Underemployed airing Tuesdays at 10/9 p.m. CST. Full episodes of the show are also available online. As Dan pointed out, Underemployed tackles situations for young adults, so some language and content may not be appropriate for all viewers.

Photo by Anna Ruch Photography