Kai and Kalib Go to State

Kai Espinas and Kalib Stevens are rising seniors at El Cerrito High School, where they have been part of the school’s speech and debate club since their freshman and sophomore year, respectively. Over the course of several months, Kai and Kalib worked with The Practice Space on their Duo Interpretation piece, qualifying for the State Championships in Southern California earlier this year. In Duo Interpretation, you take a form of media– TV show, movie, or book– and condense it into a two person, 10-minute act. The performers must use their voice and body to lead the audience through the story’s main plot points, potentially playing different characters throughout. But there’s a catch. The two performers cannot look at each other OR come into physical contact with each other during the act’s entirety. In Duo Interpretation (Duo Interp for short), the performers must rely heavily on their voice and body language to masterfully tell a story from beginning to end– all in the span of 10 minutes.

For their piece, Kai and Kalib chose the movie American Fiction, written and directed by Cord Jefferson, and based on the 2001 novel Erasure by Percival Everett. Countless days were spent first analyzing the script and shortening it into a 10-minute version, then practicing, practicing, and more practicing.  

“We started researching our piece back in September,” Kai explains, “and States was in April. So we practiced a TON. Our script went through many, many drafts and revisions. We attended, I think five or six tournaments before State. So lots of practice, lots of evenings with AnnMarie, our coach, and then eventually we were able to qualify for State.”

What Did You Learn about Public Speaking & Competitions in General?

Kalib contemplates the question before admitting, “Well, I already knew this about public speaking from being on the [speech & debate] team for this long,” but by going to States and “seeing people who are also doing our exact same event; everyone is having the same ideas, nerves, and questioning how good everybody else is. The thought that everyone's in the same boat is really calming.” Kalib summarizes with the following: “I learned that you don't have to overthink it.”

Kai agrees, adding that his takeaway from State was the power of stage presence. “Being able to have people pay attention to you and really capturing their attention is just such a big part of it,” Kai remarks. “Even if your script isn't good or you mess up a couple times, but if you have people's attention– that's what really sticks with people.”

Looking Toward the Future

Since State, both Kai and Kalib have been very vocal about how the tournament inspired them to be more active in their school’s speech and debate club. They also want to return to State next year. It’s not just talk. The pair has already started working on their Duo Interpretation piece. 

“[State] really motivated us; it inspired us to get started on our piece earlier. That's why we're at The Practice Space this summer, and [we’re] really just going to hit the ground running once school starts,” Kai says excitedly. In regards to his high school’s club, Kai adds: “We're going to be seniors, so we have to set a good example for everyone else. If we're ready, then everyone else will hopefully be inspired to get ready.”

Kalib confesses to being bummed after States ended because of how much fun he had in Los Angeles. “I want other people to experience that– going to traveling events. For senior year, I want our team to be bigger and I want us to all share that experience: traveling on a plane and competing together.”

The two have big goals for the future and aspirations to make their last year in speech and debate a good one. After witnessing their last Duo performance several times and seeing the motivation they have– and the effort to back it up!--  I have no doubt they’ll succeed in making it to the 2026 competition. Best of luck to Kai and Kalib!

Watch the full video of their State experience on YouTube Shorts and track their progress through our social media @practicespaceorg!!