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Thursday, February 06, 2003

By Christopher Rawson, Post-Gazette Drama Critic

It's better than a jolt of morning coffee -- a 10 a.m. school matinee of four playlets by middle school students at City Theatre's third annual Young Playwrights Festival.

My chief high comes from the promising writing, which, although generally centered on lives of kids like the authors, nonetheless ranges in subject matter and imagination. The fizz of the audience of middle schoolers plays a part. So does the production, sparely staged but using an ensemble of semipro actors directed economically by City's Kellee Van Aken to tell the stories with clarity and expedience -- four plays in less than two hours.

Jessica Kunitz, "Fast Forward"

High school freshman Megan knows exactly what she wants -- good grades, resume-packing activities, Harvard, med school and her own pediatric practice. Mom wants her to slow down -- "getting what you want is really easy compared to knowing what you want." Then Megan dreams herself into the future, where she meets her successful self and has second thoughts. Her conversion happens too quickly, but the idea illustrated has undisputed value.

Renee Rock, "Life Behind a Secret Diary"

For being rude during a classmate's report on the Holocaust, Adam is forced to do a report on the diary of a 13-year-old Holocaust victim, Eva. As he reads, we see her story enacted and his life changed. Playwright Rock adeptly interweaves Eva's life and Adam's. She is good at using small incidents to make the Holocaust more real than mass statistics can do. Although the plot is obvious from the start, it is touching, thanks especially to the parallel portraits.

Jordan Valinsky, "Silent Enemy"

Taylor has a bundle of disturbing symptoms that turns out to be Crohn's disease and colitis. As he struggles with his life, he learns to manage the disease (meds and diet) and ends up fund raising for the Crohn's & Colitis Foundation of America. Among such seriousness and explicit information, the play has time for pleasurable gratuitous detail, such as the school nurse who dispenses Tums and Tylenol no matter what the complaint.

Gabe Rudek, Zeke Kristek, Alan Zahorsky, "Scriptwriting 101"

The first three plays suffer from being agenda driven, so we get out of them only what the playwrights put in. Not here: This comic trio (whose pictures ran in Friday's preview story) pays homage to many a madcap farce by comedians such as Sid Caesar and the Three Stooges. There is no lesson, just inventive fun. Five has-been scriptwriters exiled to menial jobs are reunited by a tyrannical boss for one last shot: By morning they must turn a story idea into a script. But one of them destroys the idea before they get going. Chaos ensues.

Occasionally labored, it's generally brisk fun and sometimes inspired. How great to see youngsters dramatizing the antics of grown-ups -- surely the best revenge!

The festival also serves as an actors' showcase. Among others, I admired Joe McGranaghan's portrait of Adam and the animated naturalism of Jennifer Chervenick throughout. The ensemble also features Shelby Wyzkowski, Ola Creston, Kristin Pfeifer, Todd Betker, Douglass Bell, Collin McNamee and Kevin Bass.