Getting through the middle

You are not alone.

If you're the butt of texting pranks, or an avalanche of homework, or boy-crazy girls (or girl-crazy boys), you are not alone.

If you're being bullied, ignored or mocked, if you're gay or unloved or religious, you are not alone.

And if you've contemplated launching a food fight in the lunchroom, well, you have company there, too.

Knowing there is no "alone" like the aloneness felt in middle school, students at the Perpich Center for Arts Education have developed "Stuck in the Middle," a 50-minute play that in 25 rapid-fire acts seeks to reassure its audience of middle-schoolers that it is possible to survive the teen years.

Perpich senior Mariah Himmelwright is such a survivor, but the process of researching and writing the play proved a grim stroll down memory lane. "You realize how big a deal you thought things were," she said of her years in middle school. Even performing the play to its target audience of tweens gave Elissa Coady a moment's pause: "You remember how judgmental you were at that age and it snaps you right back there: You know they're judging you."

For the past several weeks, the students have taken the play on the road to middle schools from Moose Lake to Plymouth to south Minneapolis. It's a return trip to some schools where the actors had interviewed students about their concerns and worries, especially as they contemplate the shift to high school.

Director Tory Peterson said the issue of making successful transitions is close to some Perpich students, as well. The school, in Golden Valley, is a public high school, but only for 11th- and 12th-graders from around the state who must audition for admittance. Students move from their familiar home schools to the sometimes high-strung environment of an arts high school. It's not always easy.

Nor were the actors' interviews with middle-school students.

"It was hard to get them to open up," said Rachel Sedwick. "There were a lot of one-word answers." When the actors stopped asking questions and started asking for stories, the words began to flow.

Much of the play's dialogue comes directly from those interviews, as well as from the Perpich students' own middle-school experiences. Sophie Bossart had saved a shoebox full of notes she'd once passed in classes. In one act, that box symbolized the risk of opening yourself up to others, only to find that they don't want to know anything about you. Sometimes, no matter how hard you try, people just don't care.

Taboo topics are fair game

The play also explored two topics from the headlines: bullying and coming out.

The act about bullying pulled no punches, clearly ending with the tormented student feeling driven to kill herself. The act about gay students "coming out" received a more nuanced treatment, given that views differ, as does students' awareness of the issue.

"It's a taboo topic for most schools, but being polite about this and not shoving it down their throats -- not showing that we're pro-gay -- I think some parents will appreciate us taking that approach," said Benjamin Schultz. That being said, he added that he feels a moment of fear when he and another actor who portray gay students walk into the audience to begin the act. "Is someone in the audience going to trip me when I walk down the aisle? It's never happened, but there is that fear."

"Stuck in the Middle" is not all lip-biting drama. An act about lunchroom food becomes a slow-motion food fight. A bit about overwhelmed students makes its point, but with a sight gag. An act about standing up to bullying skewers lame affirmations such as accepting yourself "with joy and wonder."

The most over-the-top act is a retelling of the vampire movie "Twilight," in five minutes or less. It's a masterful time-lapse tweaking of the popular drama about doomed love, and seems played for laughs. But even this bit of comic relief has a subtext about keeping romance in perspective.

"We were sort of making fun of this need to have this perfect, idealized someone," Coady said.

'Do unto others' still works

Robyn Chrast teaches English and language arts at Plymouth Middle School, and hers was among the classes visited by Perpich students for research. She said that the students appreciated that the play took on topics not typically addressed in school. "With there being 25 short plays, many students were able to connect with more than one topic that directly or indirectly impacts their life," she said. "Others are thankful to know that they are not alone in their difficult transition to become an adult."

Could parents benefit from seeing this play?

Possibly, the Perpich actors said, because most don't realize how middle school has changed. "Middle-schoolers put up such a wall," said Coady. "They're really good at disguising stuff from their parents."

But many parents already are assuring their kids that they aren't alone -- and likely seeing eyes rolling skeptically in return. Peterson said that "Stuck in the Middle" seeks to deliver the message in students' own words, by students who have walked the walk.

In the end, "it comes down to treating others as you want to be treated," Schultz said. "It's such an old cheesy saying -- it sounds so trite -- but it's so true."

And, you are not alone.

Kim Ode • 612-673-7185