MaineBusiness.com

PORTLAND, ME—Nov. 5, 2009—The League of Young Voters honored Add Verb Productions last weekend at its annual “Step Up to the Plate” awards ceremony. Maine residents voted Add Verb’s Queer & Allied Youth Writing Project “Start-Up Youth Program of the Year” in recognition of its powerful impact on youth in the community while using minimal resources.

The Queer & Allied Youth Writing Project is an exciting mix of youth-driven writing, performance and activism, using poetry and theatre as a means of creating awareness on youth experiences with gender and identity and engaging community dialogue. The ultimate goal of the Q&A project is to increase safety in our schools and families for youth. The program provides participants with resources and action steps for using theatre as a positive form of support and activism in their schools and the community.

Add Verb has held four of five scheduled fall workshops, “Proud to be an Ally,” at The Telling Room, a nonprofit writing center in Portland dedicated to the idea that young adults are natural storytellers. Workshop participants create original performance pieces (including short scenes, monologues, and spoken-word) based on issues of identity, orientation, and expression.

Andrew Cole, a student at the University of New England, was honored at the League’s awards event as a nominee for “Student Leader” this year. Andrew is a volunteer for Add Verb and is producing UNE student-written performance pieces slated to be performed at the University this December.

Other nominees and award winners are listed on the League of Young Voters website: http://theleague.com/me/step-up-to-the-plate-was-a-blast/

This innovative program is generously supported by the National Recreation Foundation, the Maine Arts Commission, the Maine Community Foundation Equity Fund, and the Mukti Fund.

ABOUT Add Verb Productions: Theatre for Health & Wellness Education
Add Verb tackles difficult issues through provocative theatre performances, thereby building stronger, healthier communities. Nationally touring plays include The Thin Line, You the Man, and Major Medical Breakthrough, and address the complex issues of eating disorders, interpersonal violence, and the health care sector’s underutilized role in violence intervention, respectively. Each performance is followed by a panel discussion comprised of local advocates, counselors, and medical experts that allow audience interaction and community discussion. The productions have been presented across the country at middle schools, high schools, colleges, community centers, medical schools, military bases, and conferences. For more information, visit www.addverbproductions.com

League of Young Voters Education Fund: http://www.stepuptotheplate.me/about/
###