Interview: Marissa Brown of DEAR CHUCK at Winslow Homer Center For The Arts

I was given the opportunity to sit down and talk with Marissa Brown, director of DEAR CHUCK at Scarborough High School right before the final performance of the show before they move on to the Maine Drama Festival.

DEAR CHUCK, by Jonathan Dorf, "is an extended metaphor" in the words of the director of the production. She told me that the point of DEAR CHUCK is summed up in one of the opening monologues. It is a metaphor for the time in every person's life when they begin to search for definition. They live a portion of their life "without Chuck."

"I picked this show because it had some meat. It had the meat and potatoes I was looking for." Brown stated that she tends to direct shows that tend to be a little more slapstick and purely comedic, but she felt that "the students were craving something a bit deeper." The last show she did that was similar to this was EPIC FAIL by Bradley Hayward. Both plays, in her opinion, are classified as "dramadies," a combination of comedy and drama.

Brown is woman that believes in advocating for each of the student performers' creative side. "I want the shows to be student derived." There were themes that the students connected to colors. Seniors Gabby Leon and Amy Ollove, who acted as costume and prop coordinators respectively, imagined up connecting the colors that matched the scenes with the bursts of colors in the costumes. "[My students] definitely had a plan going into this. It was simple, but incredibly effective" said Brown.

The students have completed their home shows and now turn their focus to the Maine Drama Festival, where they will present their show and have it critiqued by three judges. They compete against schools from all over the region, and if they score high enough based on the 1-5 scale (1 being the lowest, 5 being the highest), they will advance to the State level competition.

"We call it the Drama Festival, but there truly is a competitive nature. The judges come and meet with the students and share their comments," said Brown. "It truly is a good, enriching, but sensitive time. I always remind the students that the judges opinions are subjective. Something that translates well to us, may not mean something to one of the critics. However, another judge may come in and rave about the same element."

She communicated some difficulties she has with the transition between stages.

"The stage at Morse High School (where the Drama Festival takes place) tends to stress out my students. The stage is narrower and doesn't have as much wing space as we do here." Brown additionally noted with a smile that, "this experience helped me work on yelling loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be mean."

However, as I talked to some of the performers, they seemed very excited about the event. A common thread was one that it was best event for them during the year.

"It's 2 days full of performing. It brings theatre kids from all over the state to one location to both perform and make new friends," said Brown. "I'm ready. I'm so ready and unstressed. The students are proud now, and that makes me proud."

I askEd Brown what's next for her, and without hesitating she said with a laugh, "I'm having a baby! That's what's happening next!"

"I want to thank all the people who support me. The parents, the students, my parents especially for babysitting all the time," remarked Brown. "Performing will always need to be a part of my life. I have to have it. It's much more than what happens just on stage. It's the people that make it happen. The performers take the words off the page and humanize them. The tech people make them look beautiful. It really is a team effort."

The Scarborough High One Act Play team will bring DEAR CHUCK to the Maine Drama Festival on March 10th at 8 PM.

The Maine Drama Festival will take place at Morse High School on March 10th and 11th.

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