BRUNSWICK

Last weekend, Morse and Freeport high schools competed in the Maine Principals Association One Act Regional Festival.

Freeport advanced to the Class B state finals to be held next weekend.

A distinguishing feature for the both schools is all their plays are written by students. Morse and Freeport are the only two schools to produce student written plays each year.

Freeport

Tim Ryan, Drama Director at Freeport High said auditions began just before December break for “Out of the Machinery,” by senior Max Greenwood.

“He’s done two or three shows now and basically, he was in our play last year and he saw how cool it was that a student was writing it, so he decided to submit his idea and his submission this year,” Ryan said.

“It’s about a kid in high school who is dissatisfied with group think and the suppression of individuality in several aspects of his life and how he ends up dealing with that,” Greenwood said about his play.

Greenwood said he has been writing poetry and short stories since about eighth grade, and that he even wrote a book of sorts in fourth grade — but nothing in the scope of “Out of the Machinery.”

In all, 50 students worked on the play. However, Ryan said the final count fluctuates with old students leaving and new kids taking an interest in drama.

“If we win the state championship, it would be the first student written play in the history of the One Acts in Maine. We were the first school in 2008 to send a student written play to the New England,” Ryan said.

Ryan said Freeport didn’t win states in 2008, but the winner, Rockland, decided not to go, opening an opportunity for second place Freeport.

The winner of the states goes on to the New England Festival, which isn’t a competition, but a showcase. The theory is you show the best of the best from each state.

Morse

Days after the competition, Morse drama teacher Kevin O’Leary was still excited and proud of the 50 kids involved in the play “Underground” by senior Olivia Shipsey.

“It’s the story of a young woman who is riding on a Boston Orange Line subway and she drops her precious notebook with her precious words and she loses everything. And for the remainder of the play, it’s her friend trying to talk her down and her road to rediscover herself and to realize she didn’t need what’s in the notebook, it was all in her heart,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary said not moving on in the competition isn’t a big deal to him or his students. He said his only concern is that the kids have fun and that they celebrate the efforts of others — Morse’s mission.

“We had an amazing weekend — just extraordinary. The kids had a ball — it was an amazingly celebratory weekend,” O’Leary said.

O’Leary described Morse and Freeport High school as big cheerleaders for each other’s programs. He even gives their actors and crew pep talks before competition.

“What’s amazing to me is that in the state of Maine 3,000 students take part in the MPA One Act Festival, which is more than football — which is more than any sport in this state,” O’Leary said.

A self-described jock, O’Leary said he would love to see the arts in school get half the amount of attention sports get.

“All the schools were cheering for all the other schools. How many football games have you gone to where the Brunswick fans come over and sit with the Morse fans and cheer each other on? It doesn’t happen,” O’Leary said.

It’s not just acting the kids are learning. O’Leary said students learn how to build, write, negotiate bad moments and solve problems on their feet — all marketable skills.

“At the festival the kids are sitting with each other, playing hackey sack, playing guitar — going crazy when the other team won. It was amazing and those kids will take those life skills with them their whole life — learning to get along with others and gosh, doesn’t the planet need that right now. I know our country does,” O’Leary said.

Student accolades

The following students won praise at the festival for their individual accomplishments:

Freeport
• Max Greenwood for Playwriting
• Henry Jacques named to the
Regional All Cast
• Christian Potts and Emmett Smith
for Lighting Design
• Stephen Brousseau for Sound
Design
• Anthony Amari for Set Design
• Ethan Pierce and Simon Handleman for Student Directing

Morse
• Olivia Shipsey for Excellence in
Play Writing
• Aidan Smart, Alizhay Gagnon and
Marisabel Rodriguez named to All
Festival Cast