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Maine State Class A Drama Festival

BANGOR – The Peakes Auditorium stage will come alive March 23-24 with nine diverse one-act plays performed by Maine high schools.

Bangor High School will host the Class A Maine State Drama Festival Friday and Saturday. Each participating school received first place at a regional festival.

The state festival is a competition for students and an opportunity for the public to enjoy high school theater at its best. The winner will qualify for the New England Drama Festival in April in Guilford, N.H.

The state festival will feature three sessions of plays:

. 6 p.m. Friday, March 23, Scarborough High School, Act I of Anton Chekhov’s “The Seagull;” Old Town High School, Eugene Ionesco’s “The Bald Soprano;” Gray-New Gloucester High School, Jerry Walker’s “Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep;” and Erskine Academy, Pat Cook’s “Mother Goose Has Flown the Coop.”

. 1 p.m. Saturday, March 24, Noble High School, Ed Monk’s “Booby Trap;” Brewer High School, Alan Haehnel’s “The Chronicles of Jane, Book Seven;” and Lincoln Academy, Sophocles’ “Oedipus Rex.”

. 7 p.m. Saturday, March 24, Windham High School, Oscar Wilde’s “The Nightingale and the Rose;” and Skowhegan Area High School, Joanna Hopkins’ adaptation of “Pinocchio.”

Plays range from classics to contemporary works, and from thought-provoking dramas to light comedies.

Festival judges are Aynne Ames; Scott R.C. Levy, producing artistic director of Penobscot Theatre; and Lynn Van Note Bosworth.

To participate in class A of the Maine drama competition a school must have 550 students; schools with fewer than 550 students participate in class B. The class B state finals will be held at Yarmouth High School this weekend.

The Maine Drama Festival is sponsored by the Maine Principals Association and the Maine Drama Council. It represents more than 85 Maine high schools.

Tickets for the festival are $5, which grants admission to one session of the plays.

Annual 3 Bands Concert

ORONO – The University of Maine Concert Band, the Brewer High School Band and the Bangor Middle School Bands will take center stage at the 11th annual 3 Bands Concert to benefit youth services at The Acadia Hospital in Bangor. The concert will take place at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 27, at the Maine Center for the Arts on the University of Maine campus.

Curvin G. Farnham, University of Maine director of bands will be the guest conductor. Farnham conducts the University Symphonic Band, teaches courses in instrumental music education and teaches conducting at the graduate level. He also serves as coordinator for the university’s School of Performing Arts.

The cost of concert tickets is $6, $3 students with ID, those under 17 and those over 62. Tickets are available at the door or by calling Healthcare Charities at 973-5055. Tickets also may be purchased online at www.acadiahospital.com.

Concert sponsors are Affiliated Healthcare Systems, the Bangor Daily News, WZON, WKIT, WDME, WVII ABC 7, Canteen Service Company, Central Equipment Company and White Sign.