Add Verb Productions tackles difficult social issues through provocative theatre performances, thereby building stronger, healthier communities.

 

What We Do

To serve this mission, Add Verb's programs:

• Capture audiences' attention by creating realistic emotional connections to the show's health issues.

• Connect people to their community resources through professionally led post-performance discussions and activities.

• Provide immediate support for those who are dealing with issues in the present, and provide long term impact by planting seeds for when issues arise in the future.

The power of Add Verb's programs has been demonstrated consistently over time through program evaluations, personal accounts and community feedback.

History

As a high school English teacher in rural Maine, Cathy Plourde was appalled by students' stories of eating disorders, sexual assault, dating violence and other teen realities. She became an advocate for students who were being discriminated against or whose needs were not being met, and started writing plays to help the community recognize what youth were experiencing. Her socially-relevant plays were then commissioned for girls' conferences throughout the mid-90s. (Though, truth be told, her first commissioned play for youth was at age 14, when she wrote The Adventures of Plaque Man for Acton Elementary School to address dental hygiene issues.)

Following the completion of an MA in Theatre and Social Change from Vermont College, Plourde began working as an independent artist writing plays and facilitating theatre workshops on social issues. Thanks to a first major donation in 1999, she was able to continue work on the play The Thin Line, a one-woman show addressing eating disorders, which began touring nationally in 2000 under the name of Add Verb Productions. The success of The Thin Line inspired Plourde to create You the Man, a one-man show addressing dating violence and sexual abuse, now touring since 2002.

To date, You the Man and The Thin Line have been presented in communities in 32 states to over 115,000 people. The critical response to both shows and the desire to have an even greater impact led Add Verb to incorporate as a non-profit organization in the fall of 2004, and expand offerings to include more community-building opportunities through theatre and fiscal sponsorship and mentoring for emerging artists/activists.

Today, Add Verb has a professional administrative staff, an AmeriCorps*VISTA volunteer, 12 actors located throughout the U.S., an active Board of Directors, a national Advisory Board, and many organizational collaborations and affiliate artists.