Curtains open, and you're already down center with head down. Few seconds after curtains open, you raise you head up slowly, then start to speak:

	Pam Panchak, Post-Gazette Langley High School drama teacher Nancy Addy helps students tell powerful stories. Click photo for larger image. Listen In Langley High School drama teacher Nancy Addy talks about her course and what students can gain from the experience. Ms. Addy discusses the quality of the students' writing.

"When you look at me, what do you see? Do you see a carefree person? A person without struggle and pain? If that's what you see, then you need to look a little closer, a little deeper."

The title is "Shaqueela," the language coarse and the topic heart-wrenching. The monologue's author is Raven Huntley, a sophomore in Nancy Addy's drama course at Langley High School.

This semester, 43 students are enrolled in one class of the elective, the most since Ms. Addy began teaching it five years ago.

"Every semester, it has gotten bigger," she said, noting, "I've had kids try to take the class twice."

In a sense, the popularity is surprising. Teen-agers can be taciturn and private, especially around adults, yet Ms. Addy says she requires students to "do things that are emotionally expensive."

They must mine their thoughts and feelings for plays, monologues and journals. They must share their musings with peers and Ms. Addy. They must perform in front of the classroom. They must criticize themselves and others.

But the rewards can be great. The stories are so powerful at times that they produce tears, laughter or bouts of deep thinking.

"We only had tears once this year," Ms. Addy said.

A girl had written a monologue about an aunt abducted and fatally shot a few years ago, a tragedy some classmates remembered. She told the story from her aunt's point of view.

"When she tried to read it, she broke down," said Ms. Addy, 45, whose career has involved wide-ranging roles.

The Washington, Pa., native received a bachelor's degree in music education (she played the euphonium) from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. She received a master's in teaching from IUP and a master's in technology education management from Carnegie Mellon University.

She sold pianos and worked as a director of two day-care centers, one for special-needs adults and the other for children, before joining the Pittsburgh Public Schools 15 years ago.

She taught at Manchester Elementary for 10 years before transferring to Langley, where she directs the band, chorus, stage crew, dance team and spring musical.

Ms. Addy spends her summers honing her skills. She's a co-director of the Western Pennsylvania Writing Project, a professional development program for teachers in eight counties.

Ms. Addy said some students take the course because it fits conveniently into their schedules. But she said word of mouth has fueled the course's popularity.

If she's won students over, that's little surprise. "She's a natural performer," said Carolyn Luck, managing director of the writing project.

"As you get older, you'll realize that everyone has a story to be told. Past experiences that they are not so proud of. Including me. Especially me."

On a recent Monday, students listened to the reading of "Shaqueela," Raven's monologue about a black woman who found success in life after a troubled childhood.

Shaqueela's mother was an alcoholic and a crack addict. Her father sexually abused her. At school, classmates teased her. Raven peppered the monologue with slang and strong language.

Raven asked another student to read the monologue. Raven sat in her regular seat, observing the performance with an author's critical eye and absorbing her peers' comments.

"That was some deep stuff," a student said after the reading.

Raven said the inspiration for "Shaqueela" was her realization that people make false assumptions about others.

"It was a very good monologue," Ms. Addy said.

Raven and the girl who wrote about her aunt weren't unusual; students often select sobering topics.

One student last semester wrote "Gangbangin," a play about two Crips living a life of violence and hiding from the police.

Three other students collaborated to write "Betrayal," a play about a high school girl who accidentally disclosed her best friend's deepest secret, an abortion.

In an early version of the play, the writers didn't divulge the secret. The class was "livid," so the writers revised the work, Ms. Addy said.

Ms. Addy is patient with the slang and the text-message style of writing that appear in scripts . If the drama course has a sub-plot, it's about helping students find a voice.

"You have to learn how to persevere, tell yourself you can even when everyone says you can't, and last but not least, when you fall, pick yourself back up, dust ya self off and try again. For the only loser is the one who was too cowardly to even try."

Raven said she took the course because she wanted something different and found the experience "better than I actually expected."

"It's not the same kind of thing every day," she said.

Initially hesitant to perform in front of the room, Raven said Ms. Addy encouraged her by saying, "You're not that person. You're a character."

When the second semester began Jan. 31, new students entered the class.

Ms. Addy said the shyest have tried to "hide" from her. Like Raven did, they're likely to come around.

"But it takes weeks," Ms. Addy said.