Improvisation explores mental health

Editor’s Note: Student Union is written by students at Hampden Academy, Brewer High School, Old Town High School, MDI High School, Ashland Community High School and Schenck High School in East Millinocket. The weekly column is a joint effort among the schools, the Bangor Daily News and Acadia Hospital. This column was written by Ashland Community High School students. Their adviser is Laura Howes.

During the fall semester, 11 students from Ashland Community Middle/High School performed a play titled “More Than A Stromboli Can Fix.” The play was first performed Oct. 8 at the University of Maine at Presque Isle as part of Mental Illness Awareness Week.

Kathy Plourde, artist in residence at UMPI, was interested in helping students use interactive theater to promote mental health awareness. Anne Chasse, an adviser at Ashland Community High School, proposed the idea to the students involved with interactive theater. Plourde then became the director and inspiration for the project.

“Kathy Plourde spent a Saturday informing the students what mental illness was,” Chasse said. “She also spent a week after school with the students putting the performance together.”

The play deals with teens experiencing mental illnesses such as clinical depression. In the play, the mother first feels that food, such as stromboli, can fix the problem. By the end of the play she realizes that clinical depression is more than what food can fix.

Chasse explained that more preparation time would have been needed for the performance to be truly improvisational. Normally in interactive theater the actors establish the problems, and then the audience creates the solutions. In this particular play, a character addressed the audience saying, “I don’t know what to do,” but she reasoned out the resolution as the play continued. The audience was involved and the performance was a hit.

The Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine heard about the performance at UMPI and asked if the Ashland students would be willing to give the same performance on Oct. 22 in Bangor and Nov. 11 in Portland. The Muskie School provided the funds for the trip. This included a night at the Sheridan Hotel in Portland and gift certificates to Shop ‘n Save.

“The experience was definitely worth it,” said Megan Campbell, a senior. “You learn a lot [about] the things you see all the time. The first performance on mental illness opened a lot of people’s eyes to what is actually going on.”

Kerry Hafford, a freshman, was also enthusiastic about the experience. “It helps get the message out to people in the community that we need to know more information about mental illness.” As someone who is interested in theater, Hafford continued, “I like to act and if it gets the point across to someone I will do it again.”

The group agreed that the time spent preparing and performing was well worth the effort. Cora Campbell, a junior at ACHS said, “If they have it again, I’ll do it again.” She sums up the thoughts of the group when she says with excitement, “It was fun!”

Members of the Interactive Theater Group who participated in the play include: Kelly Basley, Kerry Hafford, Mae Richmond, Stephanie Bowring, Jessica Landry, Cora Campbell, Erika Martin, Emily Clark, Megan Campbell, Alicia Gilman and Dennis Tardie.