Light sabers drawn, Carl’s id will square off against his super ego in Presque Isle this weekend. Which one wins will determine if the high-school senior will take control of his destiny and win the reality game show “Living the Dream” — or forever be branded a “loser.”
This is not the scenario for a real game show but a scene from the original one-act Bangor High School students will perform Saturday at Presque Isle High School in the Regional Drama Festival competition. Presque Isle is one of nine sites around the state where the contest, sponsored by the Maine Principals Association, will be held.
Carl Ulysses Bitterman is an “Average Joe,” according to his guidance counselor. But as a high school senior, he’s under a lot of stress to keep his grades up, get into college, find a girlfriend and please his nagging mother. Those pressures are played out in his dreams on the imaginary game show.
“Ever since reality TV game shows started, I’ve been thinking about teenage life and how it all seems like a game once you’re out of it and have some perspective on it,” Carlene J. Hirsch, the BHS drama coach who wrote “Living the Dream,” said Wednesday.
“I also wanted to make a statement about how we live in an age of instant gratification and Band-Aid problems in our society by seeking out quick fixes,” she continued. “Can’t sleep, take a pill.”
With input from her cast, Hirsch wrote a surreal piece that could be performed with just a scaffold and a few wooden boxes on a bare stage. The script also calls for a band to play live music. Familiar themes from movies and television also are part of the show’s soundtrack.
“I think a lot of students can relate to Carl,” Dan Bullard, 16, a junior who lives in Bangor, said of his character. “He doesn’t do a lot of activities, he has a hard time dealing with pressure and doesn’t always make the best choices. [The play’s] about everything we have to deal with every day.”
Hannah Bambrick, 17, of Bangor, described her part, Carl’s mother, as “a stereotypical crazy mom.” The senior also was quick to point out that she did not base the character on her mom or any mother she knows.
“I’m kind of channeling Joan Crawford, the mom from ‘Mommy Dearest,’” she said. “She was really crazy in that movie. Carl’s mom just doesn’t understand the pressures he’s under. Instead of trying to help him, she just yells at him all the time.”
Carl’s Id and Super Ego aren’t much better. Like the over-the-shoulder devil and angel from cartoons, they constantly advise the boy on how he should behave, especially when it comes to girls.
“I’m more of the devil and a very manipulative devil,” Johnny Warren, 18, of Bangor said.
Warren, a senior and a hockey player who suffered a shoulder injury last weekend in a semifinal game Bangor High lost to Waterville, said that he is very familiar with the forces that are pulling Carl in different directions.
John Templeton, 18 of Bangor said that as Carl’s Super Ego, he portrays the character’s conscience.
“As a senior, I can definitely relate to all the talk about college [in the play],” he said. “Even though I’ve already applied to a lot of schools, I can definitely understand what he’s going through.”
Hirsch said that some of the choices made in staging “Living the Dream” were due to limited resources. In the past, she said, BHS has paid for meals and lodging when students traveled to a location such as Presque Isle that required them to stay overnight. This year, according to Hirsch, lodging will be paid for but students must pay for their own meals due budget constraints.
Thirteen actors and eight crew members today will head for Presque Isle, where the competition is expected to get under way this evening. BHS will perform last on Saturday afternoon, then wait with all the other competitors while the judges tally up the scores and announce their decisions.
Winners at the regional level will go on to compete for the state title on March 20-21. Class A finals, which includes schools with larger populations such as BHS, will be held in Peakes Auditorium at the high school that weekend. Finals for Class B, smaller schools, will be held the same weekend at Rockland District High School.
Winners at the state level will go on to participate in the New England Festival to be held in April in Storrs, Conn.
“Living the Dream” will be performed on March 24 in Peakes Auditorium as part of BHS’s annual Showcase.
For more information on the festival, visit http://mpa.cc/id_drama.html.