Coaching Philosophy:
Throughout my years competing in speech, two feelings remained at the forefront of my experience - catharsis and transformation. For me, speech is an opportunity to express one’s feelings and encourage new perspectives. I’ve seen several performances that have shifted my thinking and transformed my perspective, which is why one of my goals is to always do the same with my performances as well as the performances I coach. Another one of my ideologies is feeling uncomfortable and failing. I always want to give students the space to feel uncomfortable and fail in performances, because that’s how we improve. I believe things are always a work in progress, but I will do whatever it takes to get that process to one hundred percent.
Elizabeth Boone
DI, DUO, DUET, PRO, POETRY, OO, POI
Short Bio:
Hello friends! My name is Elizabeth Boone and I am a 2020 graduate of the University of Texas at Austin. I am 10-year veteran of Speech & Debate and during my time competing, I was a multiple time semi-finalist and finalist at the state and national level in Duo/Duet, Poetry, Prose, POI, After Dinner Speaking, and Dramatic Interpretation. I was also a captain of the University of Texas at Austin's speech team my junior and senior year. Performance is one of my passions, which is why I enjoy coaching younger people so much. I hope that they can get what I receive from performing - catharsis, confidence, and most importantly, joy! I am so excited to continue cultivating this in those I coach!
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POINTS OF CONCENTRATION
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CONNECTION: I always urge those who I’m coaching to find common ground with their character, even if it’s one small similarity. I believe this allows a level of understanding that can elevate your performance and take it from interpreting a piece of literature to exploring the perspective of someone else. And I’ll be frank, this can be an emotional process, but it’s one that I find very effective in connecting characters and one’s audience.
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LAYERS/CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: I am a big believer of taking as much time as you need with your pieces. Your performance at the beginning of the school year can and should be very different from the performance at the end of the school year. My aim is to build on each performance layer by layer and help students discover why their character talks a certain way, moves a certain way, and views the world in a certain way.
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THROUGH-LINES: Have you ever experienced that “aha” moment halfway through a performance because you finally understood why a character did something earlier in the performance? That’s what I call a “through-line” and I absolutely love those moments! I always try to place little Easter eggs just to give things a bit more “oomph.” For example, a half page turn in a POI teaser may be a snippet of the climax.