FARMINGTON – Mt. Blue Middle School students are invited to sign up for the Arts After School songwriting and theater workshops that will start on Tuesday, Sept. 20, at the school. The Foothills Arts Center and SAD 9 will present the creative learning program, funded by a grant from Maine’s 21st Century Community Learning Centers.

Session 1 will take place from 2:30 to 4:45 p.m. every Tuesday and Thursday for five weeks, ending on Oct. 20.

Each day will start with a snack and socializing time. Then students will participate in an hour of songwriting and an hour of theater. There is no charge to participate, and students can take the SAD 9 shuttle bus home. All MBMS students are welcome to join.

No experience is necessary, and the program nurtures the talents and abilities of all. For students who have had a lot of experience in any of the arts, the program offers opportunities for in-depth work and challenges.

The program is an extension of the curriculum, so students can learn while having fun. For Session 1, the music and theater activities will explore questions raised in the novel, “The Outsiders,” by S. E. Hinton. For example: How does it feel to be inside or outside certain groups or cliques? What are ways to find connections to people who might be different than you?

The workshops will be led by Foothills Arts Center teachers Martin Swinger and Jeri Pitcher, who teach and perform all over Maine. Swinger is an award-winning folk singer and songwriter. Pitcher is an actor, director and playwright at the Theater at Monmouth who has won awards for her scripts. They will be assisted by several MBMS teachers.

Pitcher said, “Each theater workshop will begin with actors’ warm-ups and fun theater games that get our bodies, voices and minds ready to become new characters. Then, through improvisation, we’ll create characters and scenes based on our own experiences of being inside or outside a particular group or clique.”

In songwriting, Swinger will lead participants in writing songs and raps that express their own feelings and thoughts. Using colorful melody tubes called Boomwhackers, students will create melody, harmony and rhythm to turn their words into songs.

For more information and to sign up for Arts After School, students and their parents should ask their teacher for a brochure, which contains the sign-up form. Students and parents may also contact Anne Geller or Debbi Hiltz at the Foothills Arts Center office at 778-0448 or [email protected].