Taxing Maine
Taxing Maine puts ideas on stage, review from the Bangor Daily News
Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - Bangor Daily News
Tax season may be over, but who ever stops thinking about taxes? They aren’t just for April. Look at your pay stub. Have a glance at your restaurant, clothing or grocery receipt. Take a minute to read every line of your cell phone bill. Taxes show up everywhere and who understands every single one?
Creators of “Taxing Maine,” a new interactive play traveling to libraries, schools and arts centers throughout the state, hope to inspire more conversation, understanding and activism about taxes among Mainers.
“We know the power of presenting ideas dramatically and generating discussion," said Victoria Bonebakker, associate director of the Maine Humanities Council, which commissioned the work as part of the organization’s 30th anniversary celebration this year. “Taxes seemed like the issue on the tip of everyone’s tongue. We thought it would draw audiences and that audiences would benefit from stepping back from the sound bites and thinking about where taxes came from.”
The council is best known for its statewide reading and discussion programs such as “Let’s Talk About It,” a guided book group that takes place in about 35 libraries each year, and “Born to Read,” a literacy program that annually helps more than 500 caregivers inspire 10,000 young children to read.
“Taxing Maine” has a similar mission of provoking thought, but the theatrical component is a departure from the scholar-led approach, said Bonebakker. The council also hopes the piece will find an audience among both voters and policymakers.
For David Greenham, producing director of The Theater at Monmouth, “Taxing Maine” is another opportunity to engage his Theater of Ideas, a touring company for issue-oriented pieces. Although Greenham has worked with the council on other theater projects, this is his first commission. He is writer, director, performer and post-show raconteur for “Taxing Maine,” which also features Monmouth regular Dennis Price.
Greenham is a serious drama geek who presents Shakespeare both at Monmouth and, in recent years, statewide through a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. But he is also a news junkie. He researched the script, which is based on Maine’s past and present history, by spending time at the Maine State Archives, reading the Legislative Register and talking to the Maine State Grange historian. He also interviewed members of the Humanities Council, historians and politicians, including one candidate for governor (who asked not to be identified).
Turns out, taxes have always been controversial. That’s what the audience hears again and again in the 30-minute vaudevillian-style piece as the two actors trace the origin of taxes in America, starting with King George, and progressing through the Grange movement and Maine political leaders such as Grange Worthy Master Obediah Gardiner of Rockland, Republican Gov. Carl Milliken, Gov. Frederick H. Parkhurst of Bangor and Sen. Joseph Sewall of Old Town.
Although much of the play is slapstick, one of the most passionate segments is a verbatim recounting of a speech by Rep. Frank Lee of Albion. In the 1960s, he stood before the Maine House and, waving a $10 bill from his pocket, listed all the taxes he had paid that year, including for his toothpaste. “How come I’ve got this 10 spot in my pocket?” Lee said. “How did it slip by? Did someone put it in my pocket to cause trouble? Is there a tax when you find money like that? I’m not sure, but I think I’ll keep it hidden until it comes time to pay my tax when I register my gun. Please keep this whole bit about my $10 confidential for I’m certain the government is going to be plenty sore if they find out I’ve got it.”
The actors end the play with information about the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, a bipartisan proposal now under consideration in Maine. But that’s not the end of the event. Afterward, the actors set aside their props and open the floor to audience discussion. Last week, at the Camden Public Library, more than a dozen people shared their thoughts about taxation in Maine. Should there be more? Less? What services would they cut? Are taxation and services comparable? And do taxes actually accomplish their original goal, to assure the common good?
No one had the answers to these questions, including the actors and members of the informed citizenry who attended the play. What is clear, said Greenham, is that audience members are interested in change.
“I thought we would have more people who are opinionated,” said Greenham after the show. “But people are coming because they want to hear more. They wish taxes were easier to understand and figure out. What they are ready to have is new leadership. We’ve come to a point in the culture where we’re almost afraid to lead, but people are ready to follow a good leader. If that is what comes from this play, it would be a great message for the state.”
Greenham and Price hope to perform “Taxing Maine” in Augusta for the Legislature in the fall. In the meantime, they will continue the statewide tour, which already has 17 bookings. By the time the final curtain falls, the script, which the actors will keep up to date with legislative developments, will have taken new twists and turns.
But that’s not surprising. After all, taxes, as the play underscores, are as old as the hills.
