Theater for Peace brings message for middle schoolers
Since the program was founded, 400 middle school students have seen the presentations.
By Samantha C. DePoy
Staff Writer

FARMINGTON – New Sharon teenager Autumn Caywood likes to sing at the top of her lungs, to the annoyance of her sisters. And 16-year-old Tina Fish of Wilton prefers theater over school sports.

Together, along with a troupe of teenage peers, Caywood and Fish cram into a classroom and spend hours rehearsing for “I am an Island,” an interactive theater presentation that speaks to the issues teens want to talk about.

“I am an Island” will be staged this week at middle schools in Livermore Falls on Wednesday and Jay on Thursday. It’s part of Foothills Arts Center 5th Annual Theater For Peace.

Since the center founded Theater for Peace in 1999, classroom teachers have praised the powerful realism of the scenes and the thought-provoking nature of the discussions, center director Anne Geller said in a release.

Over the years, 35 high school students have participated and presented to 400 middle school students.

The cast putting on “I am an Island” includes eight students from Mount Blue High School, two students from Jay Middle School, one student from the Western Maine Christian Academy and one student from Jay High School.

The director is actor and theater instructor Jeri Pitcher.

This year, the focus is on the isolation that many teens feel as they try to find themselves and their place among their peers. Other themes include fitting in, being teased and abused because of your differences and watching as your friends change.

The play was written by the cast based on improvisational skits they did in rehearsal and includes monologues in which they tell their own true stories about feeling alone.

In each school, there will be classroom performances followed by a discussion led by the cast asking middle schoolers if they’ve ever felt alone?

Geller said what is spoken about in those discussions stays in the room.

She is looking for other community groups that want to have Theater for Peace performers stage a presentation.

The message the troupe will try to impart, Geller said, “Is that at times, we all feel alone.”

Caywood and Fish know just what that feels like.

Fish, a sophomore at Mount Blue High School, said she is only two years out of middle school and so the play’s themes are “so real” to her.

Caywood concurred, saying she remembers what it felt like to come home after school and tell her mother how she wasn’t good enough because she didn’t have the right clothes or the right look.

Now, both young women said they are confident in their skin and proud to have their own style.

“Now, I am really happy to be different,” Caywood admitted.

Fish agreed, saying as she has gotten older, “It’s valued to be different.”

Knowing how difficult being a teenager can be, the two hope their message makes an impact on their young audience.

“I hope they are not afraid to come up to high school,” said Fish on what she wants the middle schoolers to pick up.

“I hope they learn to embrace their differences,” Caywood said, smiling warmly. “It would be a pretty boring world if everyone was the same.”

For more information about Theater for Peace or to book a performance, phone Anne Geller at 778-0448.

sdepoy@sunjournal.com

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