Washington students perform at district large group speech in Montezuma. Photo courtesy of Audrey Skoog.

A dozen Demons have advanced to the Iowa High School Speech Association Large Group Contest at Cedar Rapids-Kennedy High School tomorrow.

Washington had six groups perform at the district contest earlier this month in Montezuma, with three receiving division I ratings: the musical theater group of Bailey Rees, Charlotte Windmill, Mikaila Mattheson, Claire Wubbena, Emma Kaye, Rita Du, and Molly Klinzman; a one-act play performed by Ada Kendall, Isabella Lujan, and Kyann Miller; and the “Smuckles” improv group of Bailey and Ally Rees and Quincy Griffis. Junior Klinzman shares how the judges responded to the 10-minute performance of “Into the Woods,” “Our musical theater feedback was honestly I think some of the best. We had some constructive, but our judge, he told us, ‘You have mastered [Stephen] Sondheim,’ which is an amazing thing to hear from a judge. But he just needed us to face the crowd more and then figure out our actions.”

Junior Bailey Rees says she’s very proud of how far the all-female musical theater ensemble has come, “Do you remember when we first started with the actual recording we were using instead of the recording with the voices? We were a mess and then now we can do it on our own.”

Besides the love of performing, meeting other students, and the chance of an All-State Festival nomination, the Washington girls are also excited for the food the state contest has to offer. You can hear more from them during today’s Halcyon House Washington Page on air and at kciiradio.com.