Sean Fay had a muffin for breakfast the other day. The little cake did more than fill his stomach. It also gave him food for thought – so much so that it became a character in his short two-person play “Just a Muffin.”

“He’s a plain muffin,” said the 11-year-old boy describing the title role. “But he wants to be a blueberry muffin.”

Fay’s play, in which Muffin and Spatula argue and then become friends, is one of 10 youth-written works to receive a staged reading by adult actors Friday, Oct. 7, at the Teen Center in Camden. The event is the culmination of the Maine Street Theater Project, an annual mentoring program that matches fifth- to eighth-grade pupils at Camden Rockport Middle School with theater professionals. Now in its second year, the project has two components: an in-school playwriting workshop for all fifth-graders, and an after-school and weekend playwriting and producing workshop for 10 middle-school pupils recommended by teachers, counselors or theater artists in the area.

What each of the workshops has in common is “playmaking,” a technique for teaching young people to write plays and to work side-by-side with adults as colleagues. Taught by theater artist and educator Daniel Judah Sklar, the curriculum grew out of his theater work in Georgia and at New York City’s 52nd Street Project where he paired at-risk kids from Hell’s Kitchen, a tough Manhattan neighborhood, with professional playwrights, actors and directors to create and produce plays.

Since founding the program in 1983 and writing the award-winning 1991 book “Playmaking: Children Writing and Performing Their Own Plays,” Sklar has traveled throughout the country offering his workshops. Well-off students in Los Angeles and less fortunate students in Harlem have all attended his sessions. Sklar has worked with schools in Portland, Ore., Williamstown, Mass., New Haven, Conn., Trenton, N.J., and London, England. Some of those cities have adopted the program as part of their school’s regular curriculum.

Once launched in a school system, playmaking, which includes an intensive weekend training session for adult mentors, can run without Sklar. But Camden organizers and supporters, including the Maine Street Theater Project, the Teen Center, teachers and Youth Arts, an all-volunteer organization that helps bolster arts education in area towns, hope to bring back Sklar again. And they think other Maine schools would benefit from having similar workshops in their districts.

Each year, local supporters have raised money for both the in-school and after-school programs, including Sklar’s $7,000 fee as well as an additional $5,000 for staff, mentors and actors, some of whom make as little as $25 for their work. “It’s more community service than work,” said one actor.

The real draw for most participants is Sklar.

“He’s a real master teacher,” said Angie Ferris, who teaches fifth grade at the middle school and has observed the project both years. “He does just about everything right. It has been a fantastic experience. He was able to get the kids this year and last year to write coherent plays. As an instructor, I’ve been taking copious notes so I can better carry on in the third year if he doesn’t come back.”

On Tuesday, Sklar was overseeing rehearsals with the after-school group at the Teen Center. He introduced Sean Fay, the playwright of the muffin story, to an adult director-mentor, who would lead the rehearsal, and to two actors who were cast in the show. The director, Sklar explained, would be the bridge between performers and writer. “If you like what someone is doing, that’s great,” said Sklar. “If you don’t like what someone is doing, that’s great, too. But you never interrupt actors at work. If you have something to say, you tell the director.” Sean nodded, his eyes dancing with the anticipation of hearing the play read aloud by real actors. First, his cast had a few questions.

“What kind of muffin is it?” asked Beverly Mann. “And I’m a woman. The muffin is a male. Do you want me to play it male or female?”

Sean explained the muffin’s ingredients and aspirations, and told Mann that she could play the gender any way she wanted. Sklar, who stayed in the background during the rehearsal, listened but kept his eyes on the action.

So did Sean, who became motionless, except for smiling and nervously mouthing the words to his creation. When Peter Conant, playing Spatula, pretended to swirl down a chute, Sean was overcome: “I like that!” he called out.

“It’s a professional relationship,” said Sklar, who is 62 and lives in New York City. “Kids are the playwrights. Adults are the actors. The notion is: ‘If I do my job, I have rights, responsibilities and benefits. It’s not about making nice. It’s about having people understand me for the work I do.’ Everyone is treated in a dignified way, and that’s where the validation comes in, that’s where kids begin to think differently about themselves.”

When he began the playmaking workshops more than 20 years ago, Sklar said he was looking for work in theater. Since then, he has made the transformation to teacher, and he comes to class prepared to teach students about expressing their dreams, developing ideas and building legitimate characters and dramatic action. “I’ve been seduced by it,” he said. “This is about fun, but kids come to value themselves based on their work and to think of themselves as people who have a dignified role in the world.”

While he has worked with children from both rich and poor backgrounds, Sklar characterized his Maine students in a third category. Privileged children often write well but have very little sense of consequence. Underprivileged kids understand consequences, but struggle with writing, he said. His Maine pupils, he said, are “open.”

“The kids in Maine understand consequences,” Sklar added. “I don’t know if it’s the weather or that they don’t seem to watch as much TV. There’s a real openness and curiosity. It’s not inner city. It’s not suburbia. It’s refreshing.”

The Camden playmaking group does include children from a cross-section of economic backgrounds and academic achievements. Some struggle with school, some struggle with family issues, some need more stimulation than a regular school day can provide. The qualities the 10 children in the after-school program share are that they are smart and they write well.

“They’re kids,” said Andrea Itkin, a teacher in the area and a playmaking mentor. “They have. They don’t have. They’re kids.”

Never was that kid-status more apparent than when Sean Fay watched the actors settle into their roles Tuesday as Muffin and Spatula. His eyes grew large, he giggled and constricted his shoulders with boyish embarrassment and utter delight.

“It was really, really, really funny,” said Sean.

He’ll be watching from the wings of the Teen Center stage on Friday night. Chances are the crowd – made up of his family, friends, teachers and community members – will greet the comic play with raucous applause. Then he will join the actors onstage for his bow.

And wherever Sklar is standing that night, he’ll be reminded, too, that whether he is working in a ghetto, a suburb or a seaside village, both the play and the kid are the thing.

The Maine Street Theater Project’s staged readings of 10 short plays will take place 7 p.m. Friday, Oct. 7, at the Teen Center, 10 Knowlton St., Camden. The event is free and open to the public. Alicia Anstead can be reached at 990-8266 and aanstead@bangordailynews.net.