NEWS CHRONICLE PHOTO BY ROBERT MAHARRY — South Tama County senior Maddix Sanache was nominated for the Individual All-State Speech Festival with his prose piece “Death by Scrabble,” originally written by Charlie Fish.

South Tama County senior Maddix Sanache started participating in speech during his junior year upon the recommendation of the former musical director, getting involved in both individual and large group. This year, he chose the prose category because it allowed him to show off his comedic side while also having a script as an aid, citing his struggles with memorization.

“But I also did want to do something funny. I really do like comedy,” he said.

His hard work paid off as he received an all-state nomination and performed at the annual festival on the University of Northern Iowa campus Monday. Sanache’s piece is titled “Death by Scrabble” by Charlie Fish and involves a man and his wife playing the popular board game as “strange and crazy” events unfold around them — the words start to come true. Coach Ellen Moran said he isn’t the first STC student to perform the piece for speech contest, and she felt it was a great fit for him.

“He worked extremely hard. He attended practices multiple times a week, took notes and did well with instruction. He truly deserves this honor that he has worked on for two months,” Moran said.

The judges enjoyed his expressions, his pauses, his introductions and his volume, and Sanache, who is undecided about his plans for next year at the moment, felt that participating in speech has helped him to express himself, bring out his vocal skills and hone his acting, which he intends to pursue wherever he ends up after graduation.

“It helped me just spread my emotional range, and it really helped me a lot because it got me more into different stuff,” he said.