Battling Bigotry Creatively With a Theater Production for Kids

Rapunzel, Cesar Chavez, Mother Nature, Rosa Parks and venerable Miss Liberty are among a variety of characters who will take center stage in an unusual theater production that goes to the heart of concerns about bullying, teasing and prejudice.

“Cootie Shots, Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry,” opening Oct. 8 at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, is a seriocomic musical revue for elementary-school-age children that is being presented by Fringe Benefits, an alliance of theater and performance artists, educators, parents and youth.

The show has been written by some notable talent: high-profile performance artist and Getty Fellow John Fleck, who penned the title piece; Luis Alfaro, co-director of the Mark Taper Forum Latino Theatre Initiative; playwright Alice Tuan; Cornerstone Theatre actor-director Shishir Kurup; “When Pigs Fly” songwriter Mark Waldrop; and Billy Aronson, credited with the original concept for the Tony-winning “Rent,” who contributed “Ode to Parents,” an adaptation of Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy.”

Directed by South Coast Repertory’s Laurie Woolery, the show’s musical revue format was inspired by Marlo Thomas’ “Free to Be . . . You and Me!” recordings and TV specials about getting beyond stereotypes of gender and family. Through original songs, poetry and playlets, “Cootie Shots” uses a light touch to explore fears and ignorance about physical, sexual, ethnic and racial differences.

“ ‘Cootie Shots’ deals with all kinds of diversity,” said Norma Bowles, Fringe Benefits artistic director. “Religion, ethnicity, class, sexual orientation, size, shape, looks. And it deals with name-calling, bullying, and what a kid can do about it, and what sorts of role models we can give kids so that they see beyond ‘isms’ and appreciate diversity and similarities.”

In addition to involving educators, parents and therapists to ensure the appropriateness of the material for young audiences, Bowles said, the show, which is performed by adults, was developed with the participation of children from Los Angeles-based schools--public and private, elementary and secondary--”all getting together and brainstorming.”

The result was a couple dozen pieces, some of which have had test-run previews for various youth audiences. In De Los Santos’ vignette, for instance, “Mother Nature” makes it clear that she loves variety in her creations; in Tuan’s “That Race Place,” a blind man, his Latina neighbor and an Asian woman have a potentially life-changing encounter; while in Shiela Hillinger’s “All the Adams in the World,” an autistic boy uses the words of his favorite cartoon characters to reach his tormentors.

In “The Parable of the Stimples,” by Mark Rosenthal, a boy’s penchant for making funny noises makes him a target for discrimination. Rosenthal, who counts among his influences Roald Dahl and Dr. Seuss, describes it as “an epic 15-minute playlet about being different.”

As “Cootie Shots’ ” associate project director, Rosenthal also helped shape the production and wrote several of the pieces, including “Big Love,” about just what constitutes family.

“The common denominator isn’t the similarities of the parents to the children or the children to each other,” Rosenthal said, “or the family to any other family around them. [It’s] love.”

Rosenthal knows about discrimination and feeling isolated. Several years ago, barely out of his teens, he was homeless; while at a youth shelter, he met Bowles and became involved with Fringe Benefits. Finding a creative outlet for his personal turmoil led him to pursue a career as a writer and actor.

“When I was a kid, what lifted me out of whatever horrible situation I was in were things like ‘Willy Wonka,’ ‘E.T.,’ even,” Rosenthal said. “It wasn’t the fantasy, it was the hope. Just for that moment. everything was wonderful.”

He sees a lot of kids today, he said, who feel as he did: different, alone, unheard, disrespected.

“I always thought it was because I was fat, or because I was Jewish, or because I was gay. But after being in recovery and hearing so many stories from so many people who are so different from one another, it’s the same story: feeling lonely in a crowded room.”

To prepare for this show, Rosenthal read children’s books--including the must-have “Harry Potter” books.

“The best ones have the same story. It’s all about being different and using your gifts, and the things you think are handicaps aren’t. Those are the things that are the greatest gifts you have. It’s so easy to say that, but it’s so hard to believe it.”

Creating work that can give young people a sense of self-recognition is vital, Rosenthal said. “So many of us are used to not being reflected, so we feel invisible. And when someone finally sees us, it’s an incredible moment.”

Many more pieces were written for Fringe Benefits’ “Cootie Shots” than will be seen in one performance; schools are able to choose which pieces they would like their students to see. Theatre Communications Group will publish the entire collection, which will also include a piece by Tony Kushner, Tony and Pulitzer winner for “Angels in America,” and illustrations by set designers and children. It’s due for an August 2000 release.

BE THERE

“Cootie Shots, Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry,” Highways Performance Space, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, Oct. 8-10, 15-17, 7:30 p.m. Adults, $15; students ages 13-17 (with ID), $10; ages 12 and under, $5. (310) 315-1459.