Improvisation’s the Thing in SCR Children’s Theater

After a recent performance of improvised sketches by South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory Players at Adams School in Costa Mesa, the boys in the front row were asked which one they had liked the best

“The space thing!”

Ah, the one where the 10-member, teen-age troupe had mimicked a suburban family on an outer-space jaunt--complete with the usual burger and toilet stops! Very imaginative, free-wheeling stuff--which is exactly what you can expect today at 11:10 a.m. when the Players offer a public performance at the Mercantile Village in South Coast Village in Santa Ana.

It is part of the free Imagination Celebration arts festival for children.

“We want to turn on and make use of these kids’ own imagination,” said SCR’s Young Conservatory director, Diane Doyle. “One of the aims is that we get the children themselves to interact, like giving us suggestions for sketch themes or even dialogue.”

It is also a matter, she said, of expanding SCR’s outreach, of bringing theater to children who “might not otherwise go to SCR or other theaters.”

The Players are visiting seven sites this spring as part of their third annual “Target Tour” (it is underwritten by Target Stores Inc.).

This year’s first visit was April 13, to Childrens Hospital of Orange County. Another stop was at Santa Ana’s Carl Harvey School, where handicapped children saw the show. The presentation at the Adams School was for the “latchkey kid” contingent. The final program will be for more “latchkey kids” Wednesday at Eastbluff School in Newport Beach.

The Adams School visit was typical. Besides the space sketches, the troupe was asked to improvise everything from a baseball game to a video movie stuck in fast-forward. This is the first year that all the shows have been improvisational.

Directed by Greg Atkins, a Long Beach City College drama instructor, the Target Tour troupe is drawn from students who have been with SCR’s Young Conservatory Players for at least three years. This year’s cast includes Samantha Brown, Stephanie Burden, Marcus Cohen, Jason Constantine, Max Gardner, Amanda Hammerman, Kymberly Kercher, Cyndi Leimbach, Justin Meads and Martin Noyes.

The Target Stores’ $30,000-a-year grant for the program runs through next year, when another seven-performance series is planned, Doyle said.

South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory Players will perform today at 11:10 a.m. at South Coast Village’s Mercantile Building, 3840 S. Plaza Drive, Santa Ana, as part of the Imagination Celebration Imaginarium, which runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission to all Imaginarium events is free. Information: (714) 556-ARTS.