SANTA ANA : Play Bears a Message for Youths

Once upon a time, Goldilocks worried only whether the porridge was too hot to eat, or the bed too hard to provide a decent nap.

But in a new play aimed at steering youngsters away from guns, drugs and gangs, Goldilocks’ main concern is keeping Baby Bear out of trouble, in school and headed to college.

Luis Olivos Jr.’s play, “Goldilocks and the Three Bears, 10 Years Later,” was funded by $2,000 in Community Development Block Grant money.

The 54-year-old Olivos, who is also directing the production, said its message is especially important to him because his own brother was killed in a drive-by shooting.

To help prevent others from suffering a similar loss, Olivos said he wants to provide potential gang members an alternative outlet for their energies and also stress the importance of education through theater.

When the show is ready, the group will perform it at local intermediate schools, he said.

The cast includes several inner-city youngsters who said the play gives them a constructive way to spend their time and keeps them out of trouble.

Mariana Paz, 13, who plays Goldilocks, said that being in the play “has changed me a lot. I used to get into trouble all the time because I can’t control my temper. But I sort of got the message out of this.”

In the play, Goldilocks meets the ghost of a gang member who was killed in a shooting. The boy witnesses his own funeral and tries to converse with weeping family members but cannot be heard. Goldilocks, the only one who can see him, reminds him of all the family events he will never join.

Mariana said the play will be more effective at reaching young audiences than lectures from a parent or teacher.

“They hear, ‘Stay away from gangs, stay away from guns, stay away from drugs,’ but they never pay attention. But when they watch the play they see that this could happen to them and it can get it into their heads,” she said.

The first show, a $25-per-ticket fund-raiser to pay for future productions, will be on Sept. 30 at 7 p.m. at Casa Santa Fe, 1000 E. Santa Ana Blvd.