Portland Ovations Presents Wired 12/1

Portland Ovations presents a play about the alarming rise of cyber-bullying, Wired, written by Betty Quan. The performance, intended for school groups, is at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, December 1st at the Westbrook Performing Arts Center located at 471 Stroudwater Street in Westbrook, Maine. This presentation is the second of Ovations' School-Time Performance series that offers educational programming in support of Maine's curriculum guidelines.

Wired is centered around the lead character, Damian, who thinks his computer is his passport to friendship and popularity, but he quickly learns that cyberspace isn't necessarily as friendly as he had thought. The play strikes a relevant chord in the wake of a rise in media attention given to the growing problem of cyber-bullying and the pressures of growing up in a world of laptops, texting and camera phones, and where conversations are so often no longer face-to-face.

The play is written by Betty Quan of Canada's Green Thumb Theatre. Green Thumb Theatre has been using the emotional impact of live performance to educate and empower young people for over 30 years. Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, the theatre tours educational performances geared for grade school students of all ages. Wired is intended for students from third to eighth grade.

Portland Ovations' presentation of Wired is also part of a series, Traverser la Frontiere, designed to highlight the richness and diversity of artists from Canada.

This performances is made possible, in part, by support from Travelers Foundation, the non-profit arm of Travelers Insurance. Travelers sends agents from throughout New England to the School-Time Performances to serve as "ambassadors," helping to greet and guide students and teachers.

Tickets for Portland Ovations' presentation of Wired are $7 per person. Reservations for school groups are accepted on a first-come, first-served basis. To request tickets, please contact Ovations' Community Outreach Coordinator, Gretchen Berg, by calling 207.773.3150 or by emailing gberg@portlandovations.org. Ovations' School-Time Performances are also open to home-schooled children.

Schools interested in combining their attendance of Wired with a visit to one of Portland Ovations' cultural collaborators, such as the Portland Museum of Art, Portland Public Library, The Telling Room, Children's Museum & Theatre of Maine, Maine Historical Society, or the Museum of African Arts & Culture, may be eligible for Ovations' Destination Portland program. This is a transportation subsidy program that can provide up to $400 per school to offset the cost of busing students into Portland for cultural activities. A limited number of subsidies are available. Interested parties should also contact Gretchen Berg at 207.773.3150 or at gberg@portlandovations.org to determine eligibility.