Found objects Alarm Clock makes drama from detritus BY SALLY CRAGIN

"The art of losing isn’t hard to master;" wrote Elizabeth Bishop in "One Art," which continues, "so many things seem filled with the intent/to be lost that their loss is no disaster." Found magazine would differ. Since 2001, this publication has collected the textual flotsam and jetsam of the streets. Break-up letters, make-up notes, lists, and drafts aren’t trash — they’re content. And now fodder for the stage as Alarm Clock Theatre Company gears up for its original production using Found materials: P.S. Page Me Later.

Making art out of refuse is hardly new — think Duchamp’s urinal or Picasso’s bicycle-seat bull. Alarm Clock artistic director Sally Dennis looked for versatility of content while coordinating materials for the show. She looked for "pieces that could tell more than one story. Some pieces show the vulnerability of people, and some of them are just plain funny." More than a dozen writers and filmmakers contributed pieces based on Found objects including Steve Almond, Bill Donnelly, and Peter Fernandez.

But the show is no mere collage; it’s structured around entries extracted from a notebook lost by a teenage girl. "Each day she writes a famous quote by Louisa May Alcott or George Orwell and then responds to those," says Dennis. "Some of her entries are really ridiculous — like, ‘Duh, what are you thinking?’ But every now and then she’ll come out with something that’s so thoughtful and true."

Company member Fernandez (whose musical Duplex Alarm Clock produced last season) has written incidental music and an original piece inspired by a child’s note. "It shows the drawing of a pie," he says of the missive, "and says ‘Happy Father’s Day even though you said I can’t cook and the pie I made sucked.’ " Given all that juicy "built-in conflict," Fernandez created an ensemble piece about a family of musicians with an overbearing father. "My inspiration was the Ink Spots, who sing schmaltzy standards. As the kids get wound up and start rebelling against their dad, it turns into a hard-rock number."

Versatility among actors as well as material is also a component. Managing director/performer Brian Polak notes that the cast members "play anywhere from 12 to 18 different roles. One moment I could be a husband on a trip to Hawaii, and two minutes later I’m a 12-year-old boy writing a letter to his mom. You’re constantly changing gears."

The Alarm Clockers all agree that the emotions of Found’s discarded notes and letters are universal. "I would love to meet the people who wrote these to see if we were anywhere close and see what they were thinking when they wrote it," Dennis explains. "But we’ve found things people can relate to — anyone could have written these things."

P.S. PAGE ME LATER: PERFORMANCES INSPIRED BY FOUND MAGAZINE | Alarm Clock Theatre Company | Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont St, Boston | December 2-17 | $12-$15 | 617.933.8600 or http://www.bostontheatrescene.com/