The cast of “Sammy in the Sky” rehearses Wednesday, Feb. 26, at Cumston Hall in Monmouth. A public performance is set for March 4 before the crew performs the show in the One Act Drama Festival on March 8 in Yarmouth. Photo courtesy of MAD Players

MONMOUTH — Director Dennis Price found inspiration for Monmouth Academy’s spring play in the children’s section of a library.

He was looking for a play that captured the confusion and contradiction of losing a loved one for the first time, in dedication of Sage Paquette-Cohen, a former Monmouth Academy drama student who lost her life to suicide last year. The play, Price determined, needed to give his high school students a healthy way of engaging with and performing grief.

Price, who works at Custom Hall, said he was doing a regular walk through the building’s library when his eyes fell on “Sammy in the Sky,” a 2011 children’s book by Maine author Barbara Walsh that looks at grief through the eyes of two girls losing their dog, Sammy.

“I happened to look over and I saw the book, it said ‘Sammy in the Sky,'” Price said. “I knew about it, and I had read it a long time ago, but I picked it up, I leafed through it, and I was like, ‘This is it. This is what we’re doing.'”

The Monmouth Academy Drama Players, or MAD Players, have a performance set for the general public at 6 p.m. Tuesday, March 4, at Cumston Hall, 796 Main St. A second performance is set for the One Act Drama Festival at 8 p.m. Saturday, March 8, at Yarmouth High School, 286 West Elm St., Yarmouth.

While dealing with the heavy subject of grief, the play also doles out dog facts, incorporates clowning and inspires laughter through a cast consisting mostly of actors playing dogs.

With “Sammy in the Sky” set in his mind, Price got in touch with Walsh and began transforming the 12-page book into a 30-minute play throughout December. Rehearsals began in January.

Walsh wrote the book about her daughters, Emma and Nora, who were 5 and 3 years old at the time. The girls grieved for their beloved hound while he was dying, Walsh said, but were left with questions after he was gone.

“Nora would point to the sky and just say, ‘Sammy, you come down here,'” Walsh said. “It was a combination of magical thinking and wishing that Sammy could return. When (Price) saw that, he just figured this is perfect for a play that would honor Sage, who he worked with as a student, and was from Monmouth.”

Paquette-Cohen’s interest in theater took off in third grade, when her teacher got the whole class to act and perform plays on stage in Cumston Hall. She went on to attend Monmouth Academy and worked as Price’s stage manager before graduating in 2010, said Chuck Cohen, her father.

“She was pretty well suited for stage manager,” Cohen said. “She’s organized. She likes the trains to run on time. It was a good role. And I think Dennis appreciated it, too.”

“Sammy in the Sky” has a small cast, made up of eight students. Warren Tomlin, a junior, will play the part of Sammy, while freshman Cadence McDermott will play Emma.

Tomlin said he was excited to be cast as Sammy, but has had to adjust to acting like a dog.

“Acting like a dog is difficult,” Tomlin said. “I was told that it probably would be the hardest role that I have played thus far in my time acting. And I’ve got to say, it’s pretty close.”

Walsh said that she is excited to meet the students.

“Dennis was funny because he sent me a video of them all waving to me and he sent me pictures of them in costume, and so I’m really excited to meet them,” Walsh said. “I know that they’re all taking this pretty seriously because they realize it’s not only a true story from my viewpoint, but it’s also in honor of Sage. I think they’re really understanding that this carries a lot of weight in the community.”

Tomlin said he and other cast members understand the importance of dedicating the season to someone who has lost their life.

“When Dennis was telling us that we were dedicating the season to somebody, and why we were dedicating it to her, I definitely got teary-eyed,” Tomlin said. “Because it’s a rough subject, so it was pretty emotional. I got teary-eyed, a couple of the other cast members also did. And I remember the hush that fell over the room when Dennis was explaining everything.”

The theatrical group’s fall play was also dedicated to Paquette-Cohen, who was raised Jewish. Price chose the play “I Never Saw Another Butterfly,” a drama about Jewish children that found hope and strength in making art while being held in Terezin, a concentration camp north of Prague.

McDermott said it was impactful to hear from Paquette-Cohen’s parents, who attended the fall show.

“Her parents saw it, and they told us how much it meant to them and that it was really amazing for them to see her memorialized like that,” McDermott said. “So it’s just knowing how your work is impacting people, especially directly, and how much it means to people, even if they’re not here.”

Small town community is the thread that ties the play together. In a span of months, a book by a Maine author, whose daughters met Price while acting in high school in Winthrop, was reimagined to help Monmouth students honor the life of a community member who passed away.

Mary Beth Paquette, Paquette-Cohen’s mother, said it’s not unusual for the town to find connections in unexpected places.

“It actually was kind of a Monmouth thing, from my perspective, Paquette said. “Monmouth is such a special place to live, and there’s just many connections of people who are very thoughtful and community-conscious. So I think it was another way that our hearts were warmed by people in our community after Sage died.”

Walsh said that she is happy to see “Sammy in the Sky” finding new purpose.

“It’s a book that’s done really well, because it’s not a sappy story about a rainbow bridge,” Walsh said. “It’s a real story told from my daughter’s voices, and it doesn’t dumb down death. And the book is used in schools and it’s used in hospice and so it’s done really well, and I’m just thrilled it kind of lives on through this play.”