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Porthios
01-12-2007, 06:48 PM
Alright, so I'm in a bit of a bind. I am a member of the Pacific University Forensics team. This basically means that in my spare time, when I'm not fighting forest fires and saving small children from drowning (amongst other things), I'm a speech and debate nerd. So, about that bind... Well, it turns out that our tournaments are going to begin pretty soon, which means that I need a piece (prose, dramatic interpretation, poetry, etc) REALLY soon.

I've been looking for a prose piece (preferably a humorous piece that is a bit deep as well) but my searching has been fruitless. I've been going at it for about 5 days and I have yet to show anything substantial. However, I believe that it's because I don't know exactly where to search. So this where you guys come in. I know that there are some pretty adept literature jockies here, and I wanted to ask your help.

Do any of you know of any literature short stories -both of which can be used as a prose piece or dramatic interpretation- or poems that are excellent? Keep in mind that I need to be able to act out the entire piece in 10 minutes (and acting is largely limited to small foot movements, hand gestures and facial expressions). The piece itself can be longer, but I will simply cut it down to 10 minutes if I can.

If you have no pieces in mind that would be suitable, any resources from which I could find a good piece would also be great. Thanks, I very much appreciate your time.

Jean-Baptiste
01-12-2007, 07:41 PM
Welcome to the forums, Porthios! :wave:

I'm not sure what you mean by acting out prose, but if you're looking for humorous/deep I would have to suggest turning to Mark Twain. Especially in his essays you'll find many fine pieces worthy of recitation, and his wit, humor, and intellect are not to be surpassed. I would list some of his essays most fitting for your purposes, but I think if you find yourself a copy of _The Complete Essays of Mark Twain_ you'll be able to flip to a piece tailor made, no matter the page you find first.

Sorry that this is a very limited suggestion, but I'm sure the others around here will have more for you.

Good luck with the speech!

mtpspur
01-12-2007, 09:27 PM
You might try O. Henry or H.H. Munro(Saki) for humor and a sharp sense of humor/irony. Both authors are on the author index for this site.

Scheherazade
01-12-2007, 09:31 PM
How about a passage from Three Men in a Boat: To Say Nothing of the Dog (http://www.amazon.com/Three-Men-Boat-Nothing-Classics/dp/0765341611/sr=8-1/qid=1168651719/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1/102-6067772-1824904?ie=UTF8&s=books) by Jerome K. Jerome or The Diary of a Nobody (http://www.amazon.com/Diary-Nobody-Penguin-Classics-S/dp/0140437320/sr=1-2/qid=1168651801/ref=sr_1_2/102-6067772-1824904?ie=UTF8&s=books)by George Grossmith and Weedon Grossmith .

Both are very entertaining and clever books... And probably a little unusual.

Porthios
01-14-2007, 12:58 AM
Thank you for he suggestions.

Anthony Furze
01-14-2007, 01:25 AM
Try a story called "Feet" by Jan Mark-both humorous and human. With practice it would be perfect for the purpose you ve described.

Thereare also Roald Dahls stories-"Man from the South' is excellent if you know how to reproduce accents. Not sure if it ll fit 10 minutes though.