Iolan wins national title in duet acting

By

News

February 25, 2014 - 12:00 AM

Quick thinking propelled Iolan Cody Cokely and his partner, Corban Hickman, to a national championship Sunday.
Students at Ottawa University, they competed in improvisational duet acting at the National Public Speech and Debate League championships at Simpson College, Des Moines, Iowa.
“The funniest men in the country,” Ray Louis, their coach, called the OU students.
Cokely, a freshman, told the Register the victory in finals came after three preliminary rounds and was predicated on a single prompt, speed dating. They took that and developed a short play, with just three minutes to decide their direction.
“That’s a lot less time than we had in high school,” Cokely said.
He and Hickman took a lead from commercials for Direct TV, such as one where a man becomes frustrated with cable TV, lives on the edge, loses all he has and has to sell his hair to a wig shop.
Cokely and Hickman put together a social media dating scenario that ran the allotted time of five minutes, and was hilarious enough that judges gave the actors a rousing thumbs up.
Their presentation unfolded when their cable TV feed went out and they signed up for online speed dating. Cokely played the straight man in Laurel and Hardy fashion, with make-believe props.
Coming away with a win in improvisational duet acting is nothing new for Cokely. He and Colton Schubert were state winners for Iola High’s forensics team their junior and senior years.

Related