Play teaches students it’s OK to talk about their darkest feelings

ORONO – Teen suicide is an issue so emotionally wrenching that almost no one wants to talk about it. When a young person takes his or her own life, the grief ripples out to engulf families, friends, schools – whole communities of caring people who, for a lifetime, will wonder what they could have done to prevent it.

Rates of youth suicide in Maine are tracked imprecisely but are indisputably higher than the national average. From 1999 to 2001, the suicide rate for 15- to 19-year-olds in Maine was about 70 percent higher than in New England and about 50 percent higher than the national rate. Between 1998 and 2003, about 130 young people ages 10 to 24, from all socioeconomic backgrounds, killed themselves in Maine. Only accidents kill more of our young people.

Experts tell us that though we may shrink from the discussion, suicidal young people are less likely to act if they’re just asked about their feelings and intentions. Opening the door to this difficult conversation can help relieve pent-up feelings of anger, grief, heartache and hopelessness. Caring friends, family members and others who ask the tough questions and patiently hear the answers can offer insight, hope and hard information to guide desperate young people away from the edge of self-destruction.

Still, it’s hard to talk about.

That’s why an unusual partnership is taking an equally unusual show on the road in northern Maine this month. Courtesy of the Penobscot Theatre and Acadia Hospital in Bangor, the short, one-act drama “PALS” is playing at a dozen high schools, using the provocative, make-believe world of theater to reach students and tell them it’s OK to talk about their darkest feelings.

It’s not a great play, but in roughly 40 minutes “PALS” uncovers the shrouded topic of teen suicide and sparks a lively discussion of suicide’s causes, effects and treatment – as well as helping teens think about their role if someone they know is in emotional trouble.

The play opens with a tense dialogue between two high school friends. After a painful lead-up, earnest, hardworking Steve confides in his exuberant best friend, Jack, that he has come to an important decision – he wants to end his life.

“The end is always the same. Whether you’re rich or poor, smart or stupid, your life ends in death. You’re born and then you die. Whatever happens in between just happens … It doesn’t make any sense to go through the trouble of living. In the end, it doesn’t matter.”

Steve asks his trusted friend to help him die. Bewildered and appalled, Jack refuses angrily. Into the ensuing confrontation comes their classmate, Wendy, who in one breath tells Steve she understands his self-destructive impulse and supports his decision to die, and in the next beguiles him into helping her study for an important exam with the promise of less academic diversions to come.

As Steve begins to perk up in response to Wendy’s attentions, Jack’s anger unexpectedly surges out of control. The play’s action spirals into unlikely tragedy and, rather abruptly, ends.

Written more than two decades ago by Falmouth playwright David Perkins, “PALS” is dated and potentially offensive in spots. Wendy’s irksome insistence that she needs help from the boys in order to pass her astronomy exam is hard to stomach in this day and age, and shallow jokes about homosexuality are alarmingly out of place.

Still, at a recent performance in the Orono High School gymnasium, the play loosened students’ lips and provoked a flurry of questions for organizers of the regional tour. Attentive students who were perched on wooden bleachers and slouched in rows of folding metal chairs wanted to know why teens kill themselves, what they use, how many try and how many complete the act each year. Why do old people commit suicide? Isn’t suicide illegal? Are teens in foster care more at risk than those living with their own families? What’s the right thing to do when you suspect a friend is thinking of suicide? And why, when the link between substance abuse and suicide is well established, do mental health programs such as Acadia Hospital’s prescribe more drugs when a person is feeling suicidal?

Acadia Hospital psychologist David Prescott fielded students’ questions, with backup from school staff, a substance abuse counselor and the young actors from the play.

Afterward, Prescott acknowledged that talking about youth suicide is upsetting for just about everyone. “But it’s worse if it goes unspoken,” he said. “As hard as this discussion is, we’ve never been sorry we put it out on the table.”

Mark Torres, producing artistic director at Penobscot Theatre, said his interest in producing “PALS” was piqued by the play’s success in a one-act play competition of Maine high schools last year. Produced and performed by students at Hermon High School, “PALS” took first place in the state, despite controversy over its subject matter.

After that success, Torres made his theater available to the Hermon students for two well-attended performances. This year, he decided to work with Acadia Hospital in bringing the play, and an open discussion of the issue of teen suicide, to schools throughout the region. He hired a troupe of accomplished young actors based in New York City and an equally youthful stage manager for the tour.

“I believe that theater can be much more than entertainment,” Torres said Monday. “This shows what a theater event that’s really moving can do to generate conversation around an important issue.”

Schools pay $250 to have “PALS” come to their students, and must make on-site counseling available to any students who want to follow up with a private conversation. Counselor Gerard Pepin said a handful of students stopped by his office at Orono High School on Monday to talk about suicide. “It was clear the play brought up important issues for them,” he said.

Torres said it’s still possible for schools or other groups to sign up for a performance this spring, and that “PALS” or other topical plays may be offered to schools in this area again in the future. For more information, call Penobscot Theatre at 942-3333.

For additional information about youth suicide in Maine, contact the Maine Youth Suicide Prevention Program at www.maine.gov/suicide or call 1-800-698-3624.

Anyone contemplating suicide or seeking help for someone else who’s feeling self-destructive should call the Maine Crisis Hotline at 1-888-568-1112 or the Youth Crisis Stabilization Hotline at 1-800- 499-9130.