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PORTLAND, Maine

UNE's Add Verb hosts writing workshops for youth in faith-based communities

In collaboration with the Religious Coalition Against Discrimination (RCAD), Add Verb Productions, a program of The University of New England, will host two writing workshops in Southern Maine. 

These workshops are opened to youth of faith-based communities and will take place Nov. 6 & 13, 2011 from 12-4 p.m. Add Verb Production's recent publication of Out & Allied will be used as inspiration and a resource to create new written works.

Add Verb is funded in part by MUKTI, a small private foundation dedicated to supporting theatre by queer youth and allies that deals with LGBTQ bullying and safety. 

This funding has made it possible for Add Verb to reach out to faith-based communities. Reception has been positive. Marvin M. Ellison, president of the RCAD Board of Directors, recently called the Out & Allied anthology "a highly imaginative and very constructive way to engage the community, especially congregations and their faith leaders, in dialogue about LGBT issues and particularly youth safety."

According to a recent Center for Disease Control Morbidity and Mortality report, 85 percent of LGBTQ youth have been verbally assaulted due to their sexual orientation. A climate like this makes safe and constructive community conversations about LGBTQ issues and tolerance difficult. Add Verb has successfully used theatre to conduct conversations like these since 2000.

The Out and Allied anthology is Add Verbs' first publication, which seeks to enable youth to do their own community outreach. The anthology contains youth-written monologues, plays, and poems that help communities understand the importance of allies for LGBTQ youth and to celebrate tolerance, as well as an activist's handbook for social change.

Please join Add Verb at any of the workshops if you have thoughts or ideas to share, a desire to write, or simply want to show your support. For your safety and others' you must register to attend the workshop. The location of the workshop will be shared with you at that time.

If you'd like more information about this topic, or to sign up for a workshop, please contact Glen Ellen Roth at 207-221-4264 or Kris Hall at 207-221-4491 or by e-mail at addverb@une.edu

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.