POI

-- PROGRAM ORAL INTERPRETATION

Official description: A program of thematically-linked selections of literary merit, chosen from two or more of the recognized genres of competitive interpretation (prose, poetry, and drama). A substantial portion of the total time must be devoted to each of the genres used in the program. Use of manuscript is required. Maximum time limit is 10 minutes, including original introduction and/or transitions.

What you should expect to get out of this event:

  1. You will enjoy some very good literature, making it "yours" in a special way.
  2. You will enjoy coming to understand and appreciate what makes it good.
  3. You will enjoy sharing your story and your insights with audiences.
  4. You will learn greater control of your voice and body, making both more expressive.
  5. You will learn self-control and poise under pressure.
  6. You will learn to become a better observer of the world around you, as you stay alert for clues that will make you a better interpreter.
  7. You will come to a better understanding of yourself, as you search your own experience to help you understand and convey your chosen reading.
  8. You will learn to "control a room" with your performance.
  9. You will learn a lot by watching excellent interpreters.

Special features of this event in competition:

POI is usually the smallest of the Interpretation events, probably because it takes some work to put a good program together. Performers are usually veterans who have done PRO or POE before. It can be a lot of fun to create a program, because it requires considerable imagination to put various pieces together in an effective way.

What you will do to become competitive in this event:

Initial preparation: about 3 weeks

  1. select the Program Oral Interp event
  2. decide on a program theme 1-2 days
  3. search out pieces of prose, poetry, and drama that develop the theme 4-5 days
  4. type onto computer disk 1 day
  5. adjust or cut to about 7-8 minutes 1 day
  6. print-out into competition book 1 day
  7. preliminary analysis of material 2-3 days
  8. early rehearsals 4-5 days
  9. compose introduction and transitions (brief)
  10. polishing rehearsals 4-5 days

Between-tournament preparation:

  1. Possible recutting, changing selections, or changing order of selections to improve effect or timing
  2. Possible revision of introduction and transitions
  3. Continuing analysis and rehearsals

Hints for finding material:

You need some prose, some poetry, some drama - or at least two of the three. Review the hints in each of those sections for help. Since you will probably be developing a theme, you will be searching subject-indexes more than anything else to find items that fit your theme.

Return to Chooser menu or move on to next event.

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Most recent update 10 June 1995
Send comments or suggestions to tkuster@blc.edu