By Jodi Hausen,Staff Writer
Troupe of Mainers tells stories of obstacles they face.

FARMINGTON – As if on cue, frigid temperatures Monday emphasized the hardships faced by those without adequate food or shelter as a troupe of Portland actors illustrated their trials in a performance entitled “Hear Our Stories, Know Our Names.” The actors, all clients of the Preble Street Resource Center, live each day on the brink of homelessness.

The performance was organized for the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Day ecumenical service sponsored by several area churches.

Homelessness is “like having a mental gorilla on your back,” pony-tailed Billy Woolverton, a poet and member of the troupe, told the audience at the Old South Congregational Church after the performance.

“It is very surreal,” agreed Chuck Veit, another member of the group.

“It was hard when I first got a place,” Mark “Gypsy” McForbes said. A year ago, Gypsy was camping out. Then, when he first moved into his place, he slept just inside the front door of his apartment afraid he’d “mess up the rugs,” he said.

“Every room I looked into was a new country,” he said.

Through skits and poetry, the show highlighted the many difficulties faced by those who rely on public assistance.

Following a rendition of the “Jeopardy” theme played on kazoos, the group depicted those difficulties. Asking contestants typical questions posed to people seeking assistance, Veit, as master of ceremonies, offered them the consequences of their choices, moving them forward or back depending on their success. In many cases, a seemingly good decision landed a contestant “back two spaces.”

Sleep under a bridge or at a friend’s? he asked Woolverton. Taking the warmer route resulted in Woolverton’s falling off the wagon when his “friend” got him back into cocaine.

“You should be able to do this,” Veit told the players. “There are plenty of people out there who do just fine at this game.”

But each member of the troupe was caught in a vicious cycle.

Many of the scenarios rang true to some watching.

John, who declined to give his last name, is currently homeless in the Farmington area and is “sofa hopping,” he said over a bowl of hot soup after the performance.

“It made lot of the points I would have,” he said. A philosophy and religion major at University of Maine at Farmington, the 24-year-old said he struggled with decisions about his future and thought about becoming a truck driver but had received summonses too many times for lacking car insurance, which he said he couldn’t afford – a problem highlighted during the show.

One of the major obstacles to getting off public assistance in Maine is transportation. Making a livable wage means losing housing assistance and without the housing help, a person can’t afford to live in the cities where public transportation to get to work is available. Additionally, a lack of public transportation and jobs in more affordable areas prevent the homeless from finding or keeping work.

The welfare program is flawed, Veit told the audience. “It leaves one locked into the system and makes it difficult to get out.”

Melissa Burnham of Strong watched the show in the second row with her 6-year-old daughter, Brittney. At the end, both had glassy, red-rimmed eyes.

“It was very powerful and hit a lot of spots I haven’t thought about in a long time,” Burnham said.

The 32-year-old who found herself homeless with newborn Brittney in Denver, has lived with her two young children for the past three years in Strong and survives solely on public assistance. She is struggling to get her high school diploma and said she often goes without food so her children can eat.

She said her daughter told her the show was sad.

Because of a lack of transportation, “I couldn’t give her what she wanted for Christmas,” Burnham said of her daughter.

In her letter to Santa, Brittney, who recently donated all the pennies she had saved to attend the Farmington Fair to hurricane victims, wanted only to help homeless people, she said.