The director was standing onstage at Peakes Auditorium.

“Switch everything off except one through six,” she called out to Ray Griffith up in the lighting booth.

Some of the lights went off.

“Take down six. Take down five. Look on your “B” board. Take your split fader four and put it to zero.”

Carlene Hirsch didn’t have to be in the booth to know which switches were where. After years of teaching drama students and directing plays at Bangor High School, the lighting boards were imprinted on her mind.

Hirsch was ready to direct, but for a short while on a frosty night in January, there wasn’t a teen-ager in the house.

She was guiding the rehearsal of actors Kent McKusick and Rich Updegrove in the Northern Lights Theatre production of “Mass Appeal,” which begins tonight at Penobscot Theatre in Bangor.

McKusick is playing Father Tim Farley, a middle-aged priest who tries to be an adviser to rebellious seminarian Mark Dolson, played by Updegrove. Each character faces tests in his faith and his way of looking at the church. The Bill Davis play is both humorous and heavy-duty.

As the rehearsal began, Hirsch sat forward in her seat, resting her arms on the seat back in front of her.

“So we’re back in the saddle, boys,” she commented.

On stage, McKusick stepped to the pulpit to begin Father Farley’s sermon. At one point, Hirsch interrupted him, describing when and how she’d like him to slide his glasses lower on his nose.

“I’m just thinking ‘old professorish,'” she pointed out to McKusick.

Then it was Updegrove’s turn, pacing about as his character explained his frustrations with the seminary loudly and in a confrontational way.

Hirsch reminded him that Dolson should be a little less volatile so that the audience would believe the penitent attitude he’d adopt a few moments later.

“Calm him down just a bit,” she suggested to the 24-year-old.

Methodically the trio worked though the play, from laughs to moments of poignancy.

For the director, the play is one more piece in a varied career.

A graduate of Presque Isle High School, Hirsch has a bachelor’s and two master’s degrees from the University of Maine, where she now is pursuing a doctorate in leadership in education.

Her jobs have ranged from being in charge of food and beverages for a motel to teaching on the college level. She’s directed and designed dozens of plays.

And Hirsch has been involved in five movies, three of them based on Stephen King novels. She was the lead greensman, building exterior sets for “Pet Sematary,” set dresser for “Creepshow II,” and second unit coordinator on “Graveyard Shift.”

She had a delightful experience as set consultant on “Bed and Breakfast,” filmed in the coastal town of York.

“Colleen Dewhurst was wonderful. Talia Shire gave me a great big hug,” she recalled. The lead actor was charming as well.

There was Hirsch, intent on planting black-eyed Susans and different kinds of grass, when a few words came her way in a delicious British accent.

“To whom do I have the pleasure?” Roger Moore asked. Hirsch paused in her work.

“To whom do I have the pleasure?” he repeated, then said, “Madame,” and held out his hand.

“My hands were covered in mud,” Hirsch said, “and still, he kissed my hand. He was so gallant.”

She’s spent the last several years teaching and directing at Bangor High School, a career move that has a very specific inspiration.

“Because I’m a single mom, my time is pretty precious with Hannah. She’s 9,” Hirsch said. “She’s been brought up right onstage.” In fact, her daughter played the young “Tommy” in a production of the rock opera.

Working with teen-agers has its own challenges, Hirsch said.

“They’ve all got so many things going, and I’ve got to understand that,” she said. Her emphasis is on being clear about her expectations of her young actors.

“I tell it like it is,” she said.

Bangor High has produced some talented work in the annual Maine Principals Association’s one-act play contest, winning a regional award in 1993 for a play Hirsch wrote, and a best ensemble award last year.

In 1995, the school’s production of “The Serpent” earned first place in the regional, state and New England contests. Bangor also has been host to the regional and state contests several times.

But adult theater also remains a love for Hirsch, who has directed plays on both coasts.

“With adults, you can be more creative. You can devote more time to individual characters, pulling their successes and their victories out of them,” she said.

She was assistant director on an earlier production of “Mass Appeal,” and enjoys seeing the story come to life.

“It’s because of the convictions of the seminarian. Doing this has brought me back to doing adult theater and made me absolutely long for working with professionals,” she said.

Updegrove’s seminarian illustrates how it’s possible to take into account human failings, Hirsch said. “His character touches me.”

Updegrove is a graduate student in history at the University of Maine.

McKusick, who met Hirsch when both were graduate students at UM in the ’70s, is a vice president at Bangor Savings Bank and the founder of Northern Lights Theatre. He enjoys having Hirsch direct the current play.

“She’s an actor’s director, because she’s an actor herself,” McKusick explained. “You can’t get away with anything with her. She’s very insightful – she does her homework.”

When rehearsals began, he said, “she knew the whole show – she knew the lines before we did. It’s clear what she wants, but she’s very approachable if you’re struggling with a transition.”

Hirsch “allows actors to make their own decisions. It’s the best kind of growth. I enjoyed working with her as an actor, and I love having her direct me. It’s a good synergy,” he said.

“She tells you when something doesn’t work – without crushing you,” he added. “I hope we can get her to work with us again.”

“Mass Appeal” will play at 7 p.m. Feb. 1, 3 and 8; 8 p.m. Feb. 2 and 9; 5 p.m. Feb. 10; and 2 p.m. Feb. 4 and 11 at the Penobscot Theatre, 183 Main St., Bangor. Tickets are $10 general admission; $8 for seniors and students. Call 942-3333.