Planting a seed of hope

War, domestic violence, prejudice, abandonment: Children, as well as adults, are caught up in these harsh realities. Without the frames of reference of time and experience, how do young victims cope with hurt, confusion and fear?

And how can a play address the subjects for young audiences without frightening them, and without compromising honesty and artistic integrity?

Noted playwright Jose Cruz Gonzalez has taken up the challenge in “Lily Plants a Garden,” his new allegorical fantasy about war, survival and healing, fueled by the spirit of play.

“The power of the imagination is such a great thing,” he said. “How you keep that childlike quality, that sense of adventure and life” is central to “Lily.”

Commissioned by the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum’s veteran professional youth theater company, P.L.A.Y. (Performing for Los Angeles Youth), “Lily” begins a tour of L.A.-area schools on Friday for grades 1 through 8; Saturday it opens a series of performances for the general public.

Gonzalez, who teaches theater at Cal State L.A., had at first intended domestic violence to be the play’s underlying theme, after he witnessed parents arguing in public in front of their children.

“They were screaming with anger and I thought, what are the kids seeing and feeling? And then 9/11 happened,” he said. “You could go back to 1918, or 1941, or 1939 in Europe. Pick any country or time -- and it’s still relevant. How do children maneuver through it?”

Eventually, Gonzalez set “Lily” in a residential area destroyed by “kabooms,” crafting his serious but whimsical story-within-a-story to begin with a nameless young girl, alone and afraid in an abandoned building.

To comfort herself, the girl makes up a story about her alter ego, Lily, who lives in a fantasy world where furry Wulumans and radish-haired Zobeings engage in a “Great Endless Unforgotten War.” Lily finds herself taking charge of her ailing mother, an injured ladybug, and a fragile rose, while her magical garden slowly transforms the “land of rubble” around her.

“It’s about hope,” said Eric Johnson, the play’s director. “I want the audience to feel that there’s no way this child could survive in such a harsh environment, and then to see how the same child uses her dreams and hope and strength to keep going.”

To help make the play accessible to a wide range of ages, Gonzalez, Johnson and P.L.A.Y. producing director Corey Madden took it through an extensive development process that included periodic feedback from children. Collaborative sessions with the adult professional cast and a world-class design team were the final steps.

Packed with visual and aural effects that separate the young girl’s “real” world from Lily’s fantasy surroundings, the production features substantial movable walls and a fireplace shelter by set designer Keith Mitchell; fanciful costumes by Nephelie Andonyadis; lighting designer David F. Hahn’s dramatic flashes, silhouettes and shadows; Paul James Prendergast’s “kabooms,” music and ambient sound design; Adam Larsen’s evocative video projections; and Lynn Jeffries’ unique hand and rod puppet creations.

One wall doubles as a screen that complements the live action with video and silhouette scenes. The haunting music includes a women’s choir, lullabies and a scratchy recording of “My Blue Heaven” sung by Fred Astaire.

“Part of our process,” said Joy Omanski, who plays Lily, “has been finding where we can just play. Because there does need to be a lighter side of the story, since it’s poignantly clear that there’s a lot of pain beneath the surface. The play doesn’t try to avoid that, but it addresses it in a dignified, passionate way that is great for anyone, not just kids.”

Perhaps the most remarkable thing about this unusual play, however, is the coincidental casting of Omanski and Elyse Dinh, who plays the young girl. As it turned out, few actors could relate on such a personal level to their roles as these two.

As a small child, Dinh was airlifted with her family out of Vietnam in the chaotic fall of Saigon in 1975; as an infant, Omanski was left on the doorstep of a police station in Korea. She was adopted by an Olympia, Wash., family.

“The emotional connection was made before the intellectual one,” Dinh said. “I don’t think all of the layers in the play were clear to me until I started working it, and then it hit me like a ton of bricks [and] the emotions came.”

“When I read the play, I was struck at the literal similarities between Lily’s experience and mine,” Omanski said. “And when I heard Elyse’s story, I was like, ‘Oh my gosh!’ When Lily and the young girl meet [at the end of the play], it is such an emotional moment, that sometimes [in rehearsal] I can’t even look at Elyse because I feel that I’m going to lose it.”

Gonzalez is committed to creating work for young audiences.

“It’s important for me as an artist to keep coming back to this place,” Gonzalez said. “Children deserve world-class theater. They are our seeds. We need to start them on the path with great work every chance we get.”

*

‘Lily Plants a Garden’

Where: Ivy Substation, 9070 Venice Blvd., Culver City

When: Saturday-Sunday only, 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.

Price: Children ages 6-17, $12; adults, $25

Info: (213) 628-2772

Running time: 1 hour

Also

Admission to following shows: Donation of gardening supplies for ARTScorpLA:

* March 13, 1 p.m.: 24th Street Theatre, 1117 W. 24th St., L.A. (213) 745-6516

* March 20, 11 a.m.: Echo Park Boys & Girls Club, 303 Patton St., L.A. (213) 481-1667

* March 28, 3 p.m.: Ivar Theatre, 1605 N. Ivar Ave., Hollywood. (213) 972-7587