A Change in DIrection

Focus: Technical Design and Construction; Systems Integration; Teamwork The Destination:

Where This Challenge Will Take You! The carpet you're walking on may one day be a bumper on a car. The school bus you ride on could be turned into a catapult in a junkyard contest. Imagine the fun your team will have creating an original technical device that can be rebuilt into a second device which performs different functions than the first! Your team will design two different technical devices that can be built from a single set of parts to perform two different tasks. Your team will also design and build a transport system. During an eight-minute Presentation, your team will take apart the first device and then reconnect the parts as the second device. Before putting together the second technical device, you will use the transport system to move the pieces from one location to another along a path with a change in direction. Your team will also create an original story that includes a surprising change in direction. The story will tie together the devices, the tasks, the transformation from the first device to the second, and the transport system. Your team will integrate an Improv Element and three Side Trips into its Performance as well.

ConnecDId

Focus: Structural Engineering and Construction; Theater Arts; Teamwork.

The Destination: Where This Challenge Will Take You! Nations are connected by technology and travel, by roadways and waterways, by bridges and tunnels. People are connected by our hopes, our fears, our dreams and our imaginations, and also by our cultures and our traditions. Imagine how the world would be different if you could build a magical Universal Connection Creation that would allow you to instantly make connections between people, nations, objects or events! Your team will have to find innovative and creative ways to make Connections between pieces of wood to solve this Challenge by designing, building, and testing a Structure made completely from Wood. No other materials, including glue, may be used. At the Tournament the Structure will be tested for its load-bearing efficiency by stacking weights on it. In addition, your team will create an eight-minute Presentation that tells the story of Connections devised and made by the team, using a Universal Connection Creation in multiple ways as a theatrical prop. Your team will integrate an Improv Element and three Side Trips into the Presentation as well.

Once Improv a Time

Focus: Improvisation Techniques; Research; Theater Arts; Teamwork

The Destination: Where this Challenge Will Take You! Once Improv a Time.Baby Bear ran from the Big Bad Wolf, and ended up in a candy factory, where he learned that running from your fears is like a box of chocolates - you never know what you're going to get! Imagine the fun your team will have mixing up Literary Elements from a variety of different Classic Tales to create your own story. Your team will read and research ten Classic Tales from around the world and pick out some Literary Elements in each Classic Tale. Then, in a 30-minute time period at the Tournament your team will create a six-minute improvisational skit that combines a randomly chosen Surprise Setting with some of the randomly chosen Literary Elements to create an original story with a team-created Lesson Learned at the end. Your team will learn and practice Improvisational Techniques and use at least one in the skit. Also during the 30-minute period, your team will create a Unique Functional Object (UFO) and other items to be used in the skit using only tape and newspaper. Just before you perform for the audience, your team will also create a Phrase from three randomly selected letters of the alphabet and use it in the skit.

THEATER smARTS

Focus: Theater Arts; Fine Arts; Teamwork

The Destination: Where This Challenge Will Take You! Live performances have delighted audiences for centuries, and when everything doesn't go according to the script, it just adds to the fun. Imagine how it must feel to be in the middle of your presentation when there is a DIsruption! Your own Troupe of Entertainers will give new meaning to the phrase, "the show must go on," when you create your own Live Performance and display your "theater smarts" as you deal with the DIsruption. Your team will create an eight-minute Presentation that tells a Story about a Troupe of Entertainers and their Live Performance. The Story must include a scene in which the Entertainers are "in character" and put on a segment of their Live Performance. The Story must include a DIsruption that affects the Live Performance, and demonstrate how the Troupe of Entertainers continue despite the DIsruption. Your team will choose and integrate three (3) Elements of Theater Arts into your Presentation. As part of the Presentation, your team will include Scenery that moves or gives the illusion of movement. You will also integrate an Improv Element and three Side Trips into your Presentation.

viDIo Adventure

Focus: Technical Design; International Current Events; Theater Arts; Teamwork

The Destination: Where This Challenge Will Take You! Searching for love? A cure for cancer? Or just the perfect cheeseburger? Imagine that you and your team members are the modern day heroes of your own viDIo Adventure game, on a Quest to other Nations. Your team will create an eight-minute Presentation that portrays a 3-Dimensional viDIo Adventure game. The game's theme must tell a story of a modern day Quest which must be set in the recent past or present. You will design and build a Seeker that will go through three Nations, theatrically represented as Game Levels in the viDIo Game. At each Game Level, your Seeker must overcome an Obstacle and collect a Reward Item needed to triumph in the Quest. Your team will end the story using the Reward Items from each Nation. Your team will include an Improv Element and three Side Trips in the Presentation as well.