Funny Performances, Serious Hardware

Stromberg’s humor helps Hinsdale Central win state speech championship

By Jeff Vorva

Who would have guessed that a funnyman from Minnesota who sometimes goes under the character name of Bobby Bean would help Hinsdale Central win a state championship in speech?

Bob Stromberg is an actor and comedian as well as the grandfather of Red Devils senior Albin Stromberg, who was a two-time champion at this year’s Illinois High School Association state speech meet. Both of the events he won involved humor.

He said that during the winter, he ran some material by his grandfather for a critique.

“He had a long and fruitful career performing various types of comedy,” Albin said of his grandfather. “He had a (theatrical) show called Triple Espresso. He’s incredible. I called him numerous times, asking what he thinks of this character or what he thinks of a pop or a voice. He’s definitely my No. 1 inspiration comedically.”

Albin Stromberg was a part of two state championship events to help the Red Devils win the team title.
Photo courtesy of Albin Stromberg

Albin won the state title in the Humorous Interpretation category and teamed with Michael McGowan in Humorous Duet Acting at the event, which took place on Feb. 21 at the Peoria Civic Center.

Aside from learning from his grandfather, Stromberg picked up some chops from his mother, Katie, who also earned state championships.

“She was incredible,” Albin said. “She will tell you that I was worlds better than her, but I don’t believe it for a second. She won the same events as I won, so it’s a full circle.”

In his solo championship, Albin performed a piece cut from a work by playwright and author Don Zolidis.

Albin played all of the parts.

“Each character had their own voices and stances,” he said.

With McGowan, the stage was set with two chairs and a table, and they had eight minutes to win over the judges.

“You have to get people to buy in and believe,” Albin said. “Our presentation was two babies in the womb before they were born. We had fun with that. That script was originally supposed to be sad, but there are funny moments in it. So, we turned it funny.”

Central won the team title with 29 points while Nequa Valley and Downers Grove South tied for second with 26 points each.

Maeve Rogers won the state title for the Red Devils in Special Occasion Speaking and took second in Radio Speaking.

Makenna Melia and McGowan took fourth in Dramatic Duet Acting, Ella Russell was fifth in Prose Reading and Sarah Ho finished sixth in Impromptu Speaking.

The Red Devils also won state titles in 2015 and 2019.

What made this year’s group so special?

“We had a wonderful combination of good, dedicated kids who worked really hard and just epitomized everything you wanted to see,” co-coach Chris Wilbur said. “They were friends from kids with other teams and immensely talented. They bought into our team culture and the vision of our team. It honestly couldn’t have happened to a nicer group of kids.”

Co-coach Paul Woods added that this team was a work in progress to reach the heights it did this year.

“This is a group that was with us from the time they were freshmen,” Woods said. “They have been working towards this for the last four years. They have been working hard and working together. They help each other get better and develop their skills. It’s cool to see it pay off. It just doesn’t happen in one weekend. This is earned over years.”

Stomberg and the co-coaches said there are a lot of people who should be credited for helping win the title, including the dozen assistant coaches who have worked with the group at one time or another.

“We’re very, very blessed to have such a great group of adults,” Wilbur said.

And the students weren’t bad, either.