Every once in a while we like to get a little serious here at the NXT Desk (I know, I know, it is hard to believe.).

Today we're going to have a talk about homelessness.

Didn't see that one coming did you?

OK, well, not a talk about homelessness, but a play about homelessness that is designed to get people talking about the problems of poverty and homelessness.

The truth is that while we all may have our experiences with the homeless - we see them around town, pass them while they wait at Preble Street Resource Center - we may not know much about them. Some may not want to know more.

Local theater and education group Add Verb Productions is producing a new show in the Portland area called "Cast Off," that looks at what it means to be homeless.

Now, before this devolves into some chat-fight about how anyone can know what it means to be homeless, or how this is just another touchy-feeley attempt at making people feel bad about society's problems while not addressing them - I'm going to point out that the production involves people who are homeless or are working their way up from the margins.

Much like Add Verb's other productions, such as "The Thin Line," "You The Man," or "When Turtles Make Love," "Cast Off" mixes the typical trappings of theater with monologues and audience interaction. Following each show there is a open talk session with the actors and other members of the production.

Cathy Plourde, executive director of Add Verb, said the stories in "Cast Off" are a collection of real life experiences and composites of events that took place.
"The poetry of the script, and the metaphor of wanting to be 'captain of one's own ship' and instead finding oneself 'cast off' is terrifically powerful," she said.

The play's roots are in a production from several years ago called "Hear Our Stories, Know Our Names," sponsored by the Maine Council of Churches. That performance, which ran for almost three years, featured playwright Billy Woolverton, who lived on the streets for many years in cities across the country.

Tonight "Cast Off" will be performed at the State Street Church, at 159 State Street in Portland, beginning at 7 p.m. Though admission to the show is free, all donations help to cover the cost of the production and help pay the performers.

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