Berg and Halvorson were competing in the Duo Interpretation speech division, which is a relatively new speech category. In fact, Berg and Halvorson were the first team from MVL to compete at state in the Duo Interpretation category.

“It is the only speech category where it is team,” Berg said. “Everything else is individual.”

Halvorson said with duo interpretation, they do have a script they follow that includes multiple characters. The two teammates trade off performing as different character almost like a play performance; however, with duo interpretation, the two speakers cannot physically interact with each other.

“You can’t look at the other person at all or touch them at all,” Halvorson said.

MVL seniors Paige Berg (left) and Liz Halvorson (right) received seventh over all in the State Duo Interpretation category. They were the first students to from MVL to reach state in the duo interpretation category.

If the script calls for two characters to hold hands, they mime holding hands. Any props needed for the scene are also mimed.

“It is part of the interpretation,” Berg said. “For certain things, you need to build the set around you.”

Halvorson said speech teams are allowed to use their full body to interpret a scene, whether it uses hands, running around, or even rolling on the stage.

“I’ve seen a piece where someone gets on the floor, shakes around and screams,” Halvorson said.

Paige said duo interpretation is a great spectator category because it is very entertaining with a wide range of pieces. This is part of the reason Paige and Halvorson started duo interpretation speech.

Halvorson said she joined speech in her freshman year in the humorous category, but found the experience to be dull. She invited Berg to join her in her sophomore year on a duo team and the two never looked back.

“It is nice to have a built-in buddy to go to,” Halvorson said. “It’s a lot less stressful.”

“It is nice to work off of someone else,” Berg said.

In order to compete in duo interpretation, the team needs to pick a scripted piece. Speech competitions begin in February, but many teams have a piece prepared months in advance. Berg and Halvorson began developing their piece in December.

For duo interpretation, the piece must be based on published material, but there is a wide range of material to choose from. Early on, Berg and Halvorson decided they wanted to adapt a piece from a musical. It was suggested they adapt “Little Shop of Horrors,” which is a musical parody of 1950s horror movies about a talking killer plant from outer space.

One of the benefits of choosing “Little Shop of Horrors” was the unique character voices. None of the characters in the musical has the same way of talking.

“It is nice to have a defining attribute and vocal attribute so you know it is a separate character,” Halvorson said.

Berg and Halvorson had the difficult task of cutting down the musical script to under 10 minutes. They cut entire scenes and musical sequences down to one or two lines.

“Throughout the season you keep refining it and chopping little bits off and that’s when it gets really hard,” Halvorson said. “When we need to save literal seconds, that’s when it gets difficult.”

The regular speech season includes seven regular season meets, followed by sectionals and then state if they qualify.

This was the first year MVL made it past sectionals in the duo category. Berg said there were only 10 entries in the sectional meet, which made it a little stressful because there were fewer rounds.

Once they made it to the state competition, the number of entrants increased to 24. Berg and Halvorson said the competition was really close, with no bad speech teams.

“Everyone is really talented there,” Halvorson said.

Overall, MVL’s duo took seventh place at state, which is no easy feat. Only the top eight teams qualify for the final round. Berg and Halvorson were happy to make it to the final round in their senior year. The competition will also mark their final speech competition as a duo. Berg and Halvorson will graduate from MVL within the next month.

In the fall, Berg plans to attend South Dakota State University (SDSU) to study theater, and take the mortuary science track and Halvorson will attend Wisconsin Lutheran College (WLC) to study physics.

Neither is certain if they will continue competing in speech in college, but neither has any regrets.