FARMINGTON – Two one act plays will be performed in Bjorn Auditorium on the Mt. Blue Campus on Friday and Saturday, February 27 & 28. Curtain time for both nights is 7 p.m.

One play, “The New Miss Fortune”, was written by senior Noah LePage and he will also be directing the performances. LePage noted that it has become a tradition for a junior or senior to write the play the theater group uses for the One Act Play Competition held on March 7 & 8 in Skowhegan. He has wanted to write the play since he was in middle school and has been planning about it since his sophomore year.

LePage volunteered to write this year’s play last spring and it took him about two months to write the comedy which features eight characters. The play is set in modern day times and tells the story of what happens when a fill-in fortune teller tells clients the truth instead of “what they want to hear.”

Part of the play focuses on a would-be rapper who isn’t as great as he thinks he is. LePage notes that there is some dark humor in the play but there is a message in his play which is “telling a small lie can often be better than the truth.”

LePage has come to realize how talented his classmates are and “is blown away by their efforts” to get his ideas across, even if it means pushing them harder to get what he wants. “Never underestimate high school students’ abilities and determination,” he stressed.

The actors enjoy being able to use modern day language as most plays don’t use current dialogues. LePage hopes that “people will come see the play, which is unlike any play done here for a long time.”

The Mt. Blue production is often the only original play in the One Act Play Competition and the students involved have been rehearsing since the beginning of this year.

The other play on the bill is being co-directed by Astra Pierson, who wrote last year’s one act play, and Casey Rogers. “I’m a Teenager, Get Me Out of this Family” focuses on a couple and their two teenage children and was written by Jim Garvey.

Pierson is “having a lot of fun with it.” The teenagers are being portrayed by teachers while students fill the parental roles. Pierson notes that it is an interesting experience and that “adults are harder to corral than students.”

Pierson stressed that it does take patience and she had to learn how to get her ideas across in a form others could understand. She hopes to direct in college and while she has done some acting, she really enjoys the technical side. She is currently enrolled in the Digital Media class where she is learning how to operate cameras. She is really grateful for the opportunities she has had and enthusiastic about the great theater group at Mt. Blue Campus.

Teacher Deb Muise has been running the theater program at Mt. Blue for more than 25 years. Learning how to use the new pieces of technology available in Bjorn Auditorium has been a challenge this year. The extra tall work lights and a new set of curtains are just two of those new features.

The co-directed play will be performed first, followed by the student-written play. Cost for the two plays is $4.50 for adults and $3.00 for students. No advanced tickets are being sold.