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The Â鶹´«Ã½'s Add Verb Productions is presenting a free public performance of "You the Man" a nationally touring production empowering bystanders to help friends or family members dealing with abuse or violence.  

The event will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 15, 2011 at the Deering High School Auditorium, and is hosted by Deering students on the Student Outreach Team.  Admission is free thanks in part to the Rines/Thompson Fund of the Maine Community Foundation and student-led fundraising.

Add Verb Joins UNE

The public event coincides with the announcement that as of Jan. 1, 2011, Add Verb became a part of the Westbrook College of Health Professions at UNE's Portland Campus, advancing interdisciplinary training for Â鶹´«Ã½students in the health professions.  Add Verb and Â鶹´«Ã½have been partners in health and wellness education using theatre for a decade.

"Â鶹´«Ã½is uniquely and strongly positioned to lead the country in providing the best training for future health care providers - professionals who not only know their own discipline, but also know how to work as members of a team whose mission is to provide the best care to their patients and clients," said David Ward, Dean of the Westbrook College of Health Professions.  "The programs created by Add Verb Productions resonate in the personal lives of our students and certainly in the vast number of patients and clients with whom Â鶹´«Ã½graduates will work."

Cathy Plourde, Add Verb's founder and program director said, "Add Verb has demonstrated the ability to address complex medical and social issues such as eating disorders, domestic violence, and sexual assault.  Now that we are part of UNE, we will be able to expand programming in this area."

"You the Man"

"You the Man" - which has traveled to 25 states, Bermuda and Japan - is a 30-minute one-man show intended to help people not only recognize if a friend or family member is dealing with abuse or violence, but to know how to best support them.

Through the voices of five different men, the play "explores how difficult it can be to know what to do, but underscores that we must do something to help each other," said Plourde, who wrote and directed the production.  Professional Portland-based actor Brian Chamberlain delivers the performance, after which the audience is invited to stay for a "talk back" session with advocates from Family Crisis Services and Sexual Assault Support Response Services of Southern Maine.  

Add Verb Productions programming is nationally recognized, having presented around the U.S. since 2000.