For Young Troupe, a Bit of the Limelight

Dressed as clowns, toy soldiers, ballerinas and an assortment of other toy characters, a diminutive troupe of aspiring bilingual actors are bringing a touch of drama this Christmas season to East Los Angeles.

Tom and Ruth Calderon, the husband-and-wife acting team directing the children’s play sponsored by the Los Angeles Music and Art School, hope that their production of “If Toys Could Talk” will mark the beginning of an expanded program for nurturing a new generation of young actors in the barrio.

For the children, it’s a chance to “dress up and paint our faces,” said 8-year-old Tanya Lazos, who betrayed not a hint of stage jitters at a recent dress rehearsal.

“I like being watched and people clapping,” said Tanya with the unself-conscious candidness of a child. “I like watching plays a lot, but what I like most is being on stage.”

According to the Calderons, the youngsters were selected at earlier auditions for their natural acting ability and proven talent in school plays.

Ruth Calderon, 29, a community theater actress like her husband, holds a master’s degree in theater arts from UCLA. Noting that she was one of only two Chicanos in her 1982 theater class, she said that the Latino community has had few academically trained actors and, as a result, fewer still who have returned to the community to teach children.

The couple’s drama class is the first offered at the private, nonprofit East Los Angeles arts school, which during its 41-year

history has trained thousands of youngsters in music and dance in the afternoons after regular school. The Calderons look forward to adding actors to the list of former students who have followed careers in the arts.

Raul Luevano, 12, hopes to be among them. “I want to be a big movie star like Sylvester Stallone,” said Raul, his face painted white with red lips and cheeks for his role as Raggedy Andy.

Although he complained a little about having to wear lipstick--worried about what “the guys” would say--he finally relented.

“If you gotta, you gotta,” he said, consoling himself with the thought that “sometimes you get to wear mustaches and beards, too.”

Raul said he’s learned more in the class than in school plays. “Here they take more time to teach you,” he said. “They make you study your lines and do breathing exercises.”

Ruth Calderon, who views theatrical training also as “a means of instilling discipline and forming character,” is firm with the youngsters, making them repeat scenes until they get them right.

“Come on,” she said, raising her voice at the youngsters during an uninspired scene.

“Con ganas! (With feeling!),” she boomed.

A free public performance of the play is scheduled for Monday at 1 p.m. at the Teatro Infante at 2033 East 1st St.