Wisconsin Forensics Daily

WFD Interview: Tyler Beattie

It seems appropriate that WFD’s Second interview is with the 2004 NFL Runner-up in Duo Interpretation.

Tyler Beattie participated in Forensics for Brookfield East from 2001 to 2004. In addition to reaching the final round of Duo at NFL Nationals, Tyler was the 2002 WFCA State Champion in Storytelling, in the 2003 WFCA Final Round of Impromptu, and took third place in the state in Solo Acting Humorous (HI) in 2004. Tyler also twice advanced to the final round of CFL Nationals in Dramatic Performance. Tyler currently attends Northwestern University.

Tyler sat down with Wisconsin Forensics Daily’s Nick Bubb to talk about all things forensics. Enjoy the latest installment of WFD interviews!

WFD: Let’s start at the beginning. How did you get involved in forensics?

TB: Ah that’s kind of a funny story. My older brother Todd, who is four years older than me, did forensics. When I was in 6th grade, I had been in some plays and thought it sounded fun. So I went to the meeting, heard about all of the categories and decided to do Solo Humorous. In middle school they had a cardboard box full of pieces and the one you picked was the one you performed. It was all very middle school literature like monologues about the school dance or the first shave. Anyway, I picked out a piece called “Everything Bad Happens to Me”- a horrible piece of writing - but I memorized it and decided to use it at the try-outs. There were try-outs for middle school forensics - ain’t it ridiculous?

And as if this was from some sitcom storyline, one of my closest friends Carly Wacker, Mary’s daughter, had decided to do the same piece, very scandalous.

So, I tried out in 6th grade but I didn’t make the team and almost ended there. But I decided to go back the next year and try again in Storytelling, which suited me better and sounded like more fun. I made it, had a lot of success and it sort of continued from there.

WFD: You won the WFCA State Championship in Storytelling your sophomore year. Could you describe what that experience is like?

TB: Winning state or Storytelling?

WFD: Both.

TB: Winning state is pretty cool. The tournament is so quick and frustrating because it is so anticipated, but it’s like any other tournament in terms of number of rounds. It’s just one day and you only have a few shots. Storytelling was fun because you got to tell a different story every round. I remember the story I won with was about the Hindu god, Ganesh.

I remember less the rush of winning state and more the excitement I had about creating my stories and performing them every week. I remember being really into the research aspect of Storytelling, which may be the secret to why Brookfield East has been so great at the event in the past years. It is one of the only teams that takes the event very seriously. It is a great event, and a great art form, because it allows you to combine the skills of performance with writing skills or, in my case, an interest in cultural anthropology and folklore.

WFD: That’s excellent. Most coaches would generally like to hear that forensics has actually stimulated the academic interests of their students.

TB: My process was that I would find a story and research it’s origins and look for different tellings of it. I would look at the life of a folk story. I felt this real responsibility to tell a story in a way that continued the tradition of the text. It inspired a lifelong passion. At Northwestern I’m majoring in Performance Studies and minoring in Anthropology, and I continue to work on connections between performance and culture. All [of that] sounds sort of high-and-mighty, but it’s not to suggest that it wasn’t really fun.

WFD: Do you feel that your enjoyment of an activity like Storytelling kept you in the activity?

TB: I think so. It was really a passion for me and I met some great people. In a month or so I will be directing a play called “Just So”, a musical storytelling ensemble play I adapted from the Rudyard Kipling “Just So Stories.” One of them, “The Elephant’s Child”, I did in storytelling when I was a freshman. So I guess it’s still paying off.

In conclusion, if they cut some speech events in Wisconsin, which may be good idea, Storytelling should not be one of them.

WFD: This is a rather contentious issue now among the WFCA membership. As a former competitor, do you think we should be cutting categories?

TB: Yes. One of the biggest problems I saw when I performed, and see now when I occasionally judge, is the number of events. I don’t mean to say they all aren’t good, or that they don’t have the potential to be done really well.

WFD: Why do you think that the number of events is a disadvantage for forensics?

TB: The way I see it, you need at least 15 people in an event to have a good competition. If you have 15 people in 20 events, and I think there are 20 events now, that’s 300 people needed at a tournament for it to function well.

WFD: It dilutes the competitive pool?

TB: It really does.

There are positive reasons to [have many events]. “Beginner events” help people ease into speech. But I think there are a few problems with this idea. Some of the “beginner events” have people of all different skill levels in them. For example, Informative is often a really big category, there is huge range of talent from a weak novice to experienced seniors who do the event for an easy way to get a trophy every week.

The other problem with so many events is the superficial hierarchy. Informative speaking is regarded as a beginner event, even given the pejorative name of “4 Minute”, but why couldn’t an informative speech be just as good as a persuasive one you would see in oratory? Or compare storytelling and HI – I did both and while HI is more competitive, it isn’t a better event.

Anyway, off my soapbox.

WFD: Were you glad to see that the WFCA added Duo as an event last year?

TB: Yes, I think group events are a good idea. I like Group Interp, but the problem with it is that the best groups have four or five people and it’s bad strategy for a coach to enter five talented kids in one event. Also, the event tends to be very “coach directed” because of the stylized nature of the event and the number of people performing.

I think Play Acting is sort of stupid. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to perform in a representational way in the middle of a classroom without costumes or sets. If you want to be in a play, then try out for your school play. But Duo is a good event because at it’s best it gives the students the opportunity to be really creative

WFD: I assume that you have a special respect for Duo?

TB: Yes. My senior year, before Duo was an event in state, I did Duo for national competition with one of my good friends Jenn Lorentz, who is really smart and talented. We started cutting “The Witches” by Roald Dahl the summer after NFL Nationals my junior year. We competed with it at three tournaments, The Glenbrooks, NFL Qualifiers, and NFL Nationals.

We spent so much time cutting and blocking the big challenges. It’s a shame that a lot of coaches do that work for the students.

I was fortunate to have a great coach, Mary Wacker. One of the best things about her is that she doesn’t cut and block for her students. She’ll help–but that job got done because of hours of our work.

Our goal was to do something new and exciting, more than just not doing “Open to Interpretation”. We wanted to create new images and pictures and push people’s buttons a little. It was lot of fun.

WFD: How did you do at Nationals and The Glenbrooks?

TB: Jenn and I had both competed at Nationals our junior year in solo events. We both broke at NFL Nationals which was very exciting, and I ended up getting 3rd at CFL Nationals that year. Senior year, we went to quarters at Glenbrooks in Duo, and I think I went to semis in HI. And at CFL Nationals that year I got 6th in DP [Dramatic Performance, a combination of HI and DI] and we ended up getting 2nd at NFL Nationals in Duo Interp. That was a lot of fun, and a neat climax at the end of both of our senior years. I learned a lot from Duo because it is such a challenging event. The blocking and cutting skills help me now as I adapt and direct plays.

WFD: Could you describe the experience of competing in an NFL final round?

TB: That was pretty cool. It is a really big audience. Jenn and I watched a lot of NFL final round tapes for inspiration - studying the event and how styles had changed over the years. I remember Jenn would always say “We’re gonna be on that damn tape”, it was motivating. I love those really boring ladies they get to read off the titles before each performance. I don’t know if they do it to make the performers look better or what but they are always the most uncharismatic speakers. The titles are funny–an old lady reading “Our next speaker in Code 226, Click Clack Moo Cows That Type.”

WFD: Given that you’ve had experience in both Wisconsin and at the national level, which style of forensics do you prefer better? (For example, the disparities between the two in format and style - such as Solo Humorous 8 minutes instead of 10.) Would Wisconsin be better to move to national format or would you like to see Wisconsin stay as it is?

TB: NFL competition is sort of regarded as the end-all of forensics, but has far less rules. For example, the Wisconsin rules for Farrago say that the performer must say the genre of each selection in the introduction, but the rules also include ambiguous statements like “the literature must provide an insight into human values and emotions”. I think judges should be freer to judge the round based on simpler criteria and who they liked the most. As for style, I suppose I prefer the way it is in Wisconsin. National style is very homogenized, which makes things very predictable. You will see a lot more variety at a given tournament in Wisconsin than you will at a tournament like Harvard or Glenbrooks. For example, who says that HIers have to pop?

WFD: Interesting. Let’s return to your thoughts on Duo. What for you makes a great duo?

TB: A couple things. Completeness–this is that cutting/blocking thing. Good cuttings don’t feel like a scene from a play–they feel like whole pieces. The blocking thing is all about precision, which leads to energy. Being conscious of how you are using the space and making pictures in the space is important, so is chemistry. People need to believe you are in a relationship, whatever that relationship may be. I also like when people take risks. How many times have we seen “Open to Interpretation” and “Drugs are Bad” and “Astro 69”? I like those pieces but I appreciate when people do something new.

WFD: If a great Duo is about the cutting and the people, then what makes a great HI?

TB: HI is a tricky event. It has become simplified and people call it “gimmicky”, which is such a foolish criticism. There is a showy quality to most performances. Phillip Bridge [a former teammate of Tyler’s who has advanced to the semfinals and the final round of HI over the last two years. Phil is currently a senior for Brookfield East.] is super talented and does a lot of noises and physical tricks. He is great because he’s able to showcase his skills by developing a story. Gimmicks aren’t easy–they are hard to do well.

TB: Good HIs are well-cut, have strong characterization and have natural presence and timing, which can be learned. There is a certain style of acting you learn from competingin interp events. Northwestern theater has a large number of former speech competitiors. I directed a play in the fall where literally half the cast had competed in speech.

WFD: Did you find it easy to transition from Storytelling to HI and Duo? Did you feel like participation in other interpretation events prepared you well for the national, larger, and more competitive events?

TB: It definitely did. Storytelling is a great event because you can learn so much from doing it. It’s a springboard category for a lot of people because they start wanting to compete at a national level, and there is no Storytelling at Nationals. That was the case for me. Some people regard is as novice HI, but it isn’t. My friend Kelsey Palmer [Brookfield East] won state in Storytelling, and won state in Oratory the next year. Storytelling pieces and HIs are both speeches, but not acting in the sense that we act in plays. If you did a good HI in a theatrical audition, you would be very anomalous. That’s why the best speech people - like Anna Lisa Dahlgren [James Madison Memorial 2004 graduate] from my year - can cross over well from one event to the other. The most successful competitors base what they are doing on a foundation of basic poise and communication skills, not the tricks of each category that people get so obsessed with. I guess I am saying that if you are good, you are good. Any event done well can be good training for any other event.

WFD: Last year Brookfield East finished second in the WFCA Team Sweepstakes. Brookfield East has become a team to beat on a weekly basis. Can you talk about the emergence of your alma mater?

TB: Brookfield East has grown quite a bit over the years. I remember my freshman year the team was about 30 people and now it is something like 100. My freshman year just a few kids qualified for Nationals and last year it was something like 20 between CFLs and NFLs. It’s really pretty cool to think about. Mary Wacker, as I mentioned before, does a great job at knowing when it is necessary to be firmly in control, and when leadership belongs in the hands of the students. Brookfield relies on student leaders to educate and mentor which is important with a big team and no budget to hire a coaching staff. Because of that students tend to be invested in each other’s success and inspired but not intimidated by their more experienced teammates.

WFD: You mentioned before that Mrs. Wacker doesn’t block. How does she work to help students then? Or more general, what makes her a special and successful coach?

TB: Yeah, Wacker doesn’t block or cut. I think it is typical for coaches to direct their students the way you would direct a play. However, self-directing is a valuable skill. Wacker is a superb coach because she gives her students the tools to do it themselves. There are certain strengths that different teams have, and I’d say that Brookfield East’s are HI, OO, Duo, Storytelling. Wacker lets students come up with ideas and make them happen which allows for a lot of innovation. She has an open mind and strong sense of leadership. Something I have learned about directing plays is that if you trust your actors to do something, they will almost always deliver. Wacker is great at seeing the potential of young talent and guides them to success–but makes them work for it.

WFD: You mentioned before that your brother participated in the event, is forensics a family event for the Beatties?

TB: Oh gosh, I was more into it than Todd was. He was more into debate. My little brother Travis is in eighth grade, and does speech. He’s could be better than me if he wants. Travis knows the activity very well from seeing his brothers do it. I hope he continues in high school–but he also does that whole sports thing so we’ll see.

WFD: Last question: Favorite memory of Wisconsin forensics?

TB: Hmm. I always looked forward to Doris Sexton’s flippant comments at award ceremonies like “This kid got a 1-1-5 in the final, sucks for him”. I did student congress and wasn’t very good, but I had nothing better to do on Friday nights. My sophomore year people kept writing gay-themed legislation and out themselves in speeches, that was funny. And we used to do this shakedown thing as a team warm-up on speech mornings, we called it the “Shaky Shaky Dance”. One time Bryan Walter got a little out of hand and just toppled over. God, I laugh just thinking about that. The Delevan Darien tournament was always fun because they had a classroom I always ended up competing in that was an agricultural sciences room. They had posters with different cows and types of wheat and stuff, it just felt so… Midwestern? Oh! And there is this guy named Ernest, I think, and he coaches for Bradley Tech. He is just the nicest man, and he was a really big fan of Jenn and me. He would come up to us at tournaments and high five us and ask us all these questions–Ernest is the source of 95% of my self-esteem. There are so many good memories. My friend Phillip Bridge started HI the year I was a senior and I remember first power round and how great he was, that was pretty cool. I was also much better groomed when I did speech because it really mattered how I looked.

So I guess my favorite forensics memory is all the little things.

WFD: Thanks for the interview!

TB: It’s been a pleasure.

Posted in Interviews |