Memorizing Lines, Doing Time : Inmates Like ‘Creature’ Make Prison History in 3 One-Act Plays

Actors come in all sizes, shapes and guises.

Director Spike Sorrentino recalls his first encounter with a major cast member in the production of “Inside Out,” opening tonight at the Lyceum Space.

Sorrentino was “auditioning” at a local institution, the R. J. Donovan Correctional Facility, also known as the Rock Mountain medium-security prison near Otay Mesa.

“This huge, very large man comes in and puts out this great big paw and says, ‘Hello. My name is Creature.’ ” Sorrentino warily grasped the man’s hand.

As it happened, Creature--that’s what he likes to be called--turned out to be “quite a find, a fine actor,” Sorrentino said.

The biggest problem with Creature was not with learning his lines, but in finding the Triple X shirts to costume him for one of the title roles in Israel Horovitz’s parable “Rats,” and for the walk-on part in Christopher R’s “The Scam.”

Creature and five of his co-prisoners are about to make prison history with today’s 8 p.m. performance and Sunday’s 7 p.m. performance of “Inside Out,” three one-act plays, in a benefit for the Crime Victims Fund. “Inside Out” marks the first time California prisoners have performed a play outside of prison.

“We’ve taken something from the community,” said David, one of the inmate actors participating in the state’s Arts-in-Corrections Program. “This gives me a chance to give something back to the community.”

David, whos face looks naturally fierce, has shoulder-length black hair, numerous tattoos and a husky build, the result of hours spent pumping iron in the prison yard. He has served 8 1/2 years behind bars, he said, including time at five other prisons.

Like the other inmates who received special clearance to perform on the outside, David is a minimum-security prisoner. Most of the men chosen will complete their two-year terms within 12 months.

“Prisons used to try rehabilitation,” David said. “Now it’s just warehousing. It’s not doing no good, being locked up. You have no values when you get out. The programs they do have like this are very limited. This brings values back.”

David is impressed by the message of the play Sorrentino has cast him in. In “Rats,” he plays a rat who has intruded into the home of another, played by Creature. During rehearsal, the two lock in a muscle-bulging, realistic-looking fight.

“The value part of the story has to do with getting somewhere,” David said. “Not just giving up, but fighting to get there.”

Robert Mendoza of Pacoima tried out for the acting program because “I’ve always had an interest in music and entertainment.”

Mendoza plays a monster in “The Actor and the Invader” by Robert Patrick and a baby in “Rats.” As a cast member, he said, he has learned to work with other convicts.

“We’ve got to work together to do the play. I had a little problem with one of the people. I’ve been trying hard to learn the part. He sees that, and he likes that, and we’re working together.”

The toughest part of acting in a play is taking the kidding from other prisoners, said Mendoza, who wears a diaper for his role as a baby.

“Being in this prison, you can’t let it get to you,” he said. “People say, ‘Agh, a play is stupid.’ I’ve put in a lot of work in this play. I don’t let them get to me.”

Through Sorrentino, Mendoza has discovered other plays, such as David Mamet’s tough-guy “American Buffalo.”

“I know those kinds of characters,” Mendoza said. “That’s something I’d like to do.”

Sorrentino chose the three one-acts rather than an eight-week acting course because “you can’t go to your cell and act. If they’re doing a poetry or drawing course, they can do that in their cell.”

But inmates can go to their cells and memorize lines in a play. Outside of the eight hours spent each day at manual labor, they’ve got nothing but time.

“It’s boring and drab in prisons,” Sorrentino said. “This program gives a chance to be a little more colorful, to laugh a bit. It gives them a chance to talk for a few hours with someone from the outside other than a guard. One of the biggest things down there is to pump iron. But that’s not everybody’s cup of tea.”

Last year, inmates under Sorrentino’s direction produced a Christmas musical video that was broadcast on the prison’s closed-circuit television.

Although Sorrentino does not have to worry about Hollywood stealing his actors with more lucrative offers, prison does have its peculiarities. A month before opening night, a member of the cast broke a prison regulation and was taken out of the program. Another inmate volunteered for the role, and the show went on.

As a group, the men are savvy and bright, Sorrentino said. And they are surprisingly good actors.

“Creature is so big, and yet he shows a great vulnerability. From the beginning, he had a clear view of where his character should go, and he went there.”

A human mountain with a shaved head and a bushy beard, Creature said he has always been a drama fan. While a student at Hoover High School, he played in a takeoff of “Hair.”

“The toughest part is going over the lines,” Creature said. “Reading them over and over and trying to work out the nuances, the inflections of the character.

“Probably what I’ve enjoyed the most is reading it over and over again, realizing you’re finally coming to terms with the character you’re taking from this script. It’s rewarding, you know.”

For 21-year old Scott Ferrell, who plays in “The Scam,” acting has meant “learning not to be afraid to express myself in front of people. At one time that was a problem.”

Ferrell has less than a month before he gets out of prison, and he counts himself lucky for having the chance to act.

“I’ve always wanted to try something like this,” he said. “I think everybody has.”