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PORTLAND, Maine

Add Verb Productions receives Maine Arts Commission SMART grant

Add Verb Productions, a program of the University of New England is pleased to announce receipt of a SMART (Schools Make Arts Relevant Today) grant from the Maine Arts Commission and the National Endowment for the Arts in the amount of $5,000.

This grant supports Add Verb's mission to empower youth through theatre for social change by bringing Add Verb and the University of Southern Maine (USM) Theatre Department together with the Theatre II class at Bonny Eagle High School (BEHS).

The project includes a residency of two professional artists, Cathy Plourde (playwright/director) and Meghan Brodie (dramaturge/director/playwright) and two USM theatre majors who will teach the high school students how to use theatre to engage and empower each other. 

Performance pieces will be developed on the theme of constructive community response to social conditions that allow bullying and harassment to persist. In her letter of support, Beth Schultz, BEHS principal said "Dealing with harassment and violence prevention is an ongoing concern to us at Bonny Eagle. It is so beneficial when we can take a positive, rather than a punitive, approach to preventing violence and remind our students that Bonny Eagle High School is a safe and caring place." A performance of these dramatized stories at BEHS is planned for February 2012.

In addition to offering workshops such as these, Add Verb Productions has recently published the Out & Allied Anthology, featuring youth-written monologues, short plays and poems. The thirty-four performance pieces were selected from well over 100 submissions from youth in Maine and across the country.

The material focuses on the experiences of LGBTQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning) youth and the importance of allies. Included is a guide for directing, producing, and writing original pieces and other resources developed from Add Verb's expertise in developing theatre for social change. Performance material generated through this collaboration will be eligible for inclusion in the second edition of the Out & Allied Anthology.

The Maine Arts Commission is a dynamic state agency that supports Maine's arts and culture through a variety of grants and state wide services. This is the third grant that Add Verb has received from the Maine Arts Commission since 2009.

About the University of New England

The University of New England is Maine’s largest independent university, with two beautiful coastal campuses in Maine, a one-of-a-kind study abroad campus in Tangier, Morocco, and an array of flexible, accredited online degrees. In an uncommonly welcoming and supportive community, we offer hands-on learning, empowering students to make a positive impact in a world full of challenges. The state’s top provider of health professionals, we are home to Maine’s only medical college, Maine’s only dental college, a variety of other interprofessionally aligned health care degree programs, as well as nationally recognized programs for marine science degrees, natural and social sciences degrees, arts and humanities degrees, and business degrees.