San Diego Arts Groups Reach Out : Arts: The Old Globe’s Teatro Meta In-Schools program offers at-risk youths an alternative to gang life and dead ends.

One day late last May, at the end of the school year, selectstudents from 12 local junior and senior high school gathered at the Lowell Davies Festival stage in Balboa Park to perform short one-act plays for one another in a program sponsored by the Old Globe Theatre.

Students and teachers packed the 612-seat outdoor theater, with the students cheering for their schools and laughing and commenting appreciatively.

The scenery for the shows was simple: On two blackboards, the kids taped large drawings to set the scene. A television and kitchen suggested a home. A clock and desks suggested a school. Props were equally simple, a couple of chairs draped with a blanket made a couch, and a table with just a telephone served in more than one play.

The scenes--which the students wrote-- were equally straightforward.

* From Chula Vista Junior High came a story of teen pregnancy: A girl feels abused by a father and brother who think she lives only to do their laundry. She runs away from home and finds herself pregnant. When she returns to her family, with the support of her mother, she decides to have the baby and let the men in her family wash their own clothes.

* From Torrey Pines High School: A man returns home late one night, drunk, and demands that his wife put dinner on the table. He beats her, and her children rush to her rescue. When he finally falls asleep at the table, the kids and mother leave him for good. He wakes the next morning to the voice of a friend encouraging him to join Alcoholics Anonymous.

* From San Marcos Junior High: A young man has been drawn into a local street gang. He is in trouble at home and school, so he moves out and drops out. Three years later, he comes home a new man, dressed in a suit and tie. He shocks his father, who at first doesn’t recognize him. The son tells his father he’s seen the light, has left the gang, finished school and gotten a job. And he shows his convictions by crushing his old sunglasses and bandanna--gang paraphernalia--under his foot.

As diverse as these plots are, they are connected by two essential factors: They are close to the real lives of the youths who wrote them. And they all have happy endings, which is something these young people are striving for in real life.

The Old Globe’s Teatro Meta In-Schools program, just one of myriad educational programs run in the schools by local arts organizations, helped the students develop these plays at no cost to the schools during a 14-week, structured series targeted for kids at high risk of dropping out. This year, the program served 479 students ranging in age from 12 to 17 from 12 schools. Sixty-eight percent of the students were judged at risk for not finishing high school. The 4-year-old bilingual program costs the Globe $59,000 annually, with $50,000 of that coming from a Wells Fargo grant.

This outreach program is more than just an introduction to the world of theater. During the school year, Globe staffers travel to the schools to work with teachers and kids in both Spanish and English, helping the youths express themselves about their own lives through writing and acting, and in the process build self-esteem at a time when they are most vulnerable to gangs and other non-productive influences.

But perhaps most importantly, the program also requires at-risk kids to find positive endings for what seem like dead-end situations.

The program was developed, says Old Globe managing director Thomas Hall, to focus on building literacy and self-esteem for at-risk youths, a traditional education focus that is not really about art. It is an alternative to arts programs traditionally targeted for the more gifted students.

The positive effect on the kids was evident from their performances, and from the responses not only of their peers, but also of the teachers at the Balboa Park performance.

Maria Iborra, a Castle Park Middle School teacher involved in the program, gave it credit for recognizing hidden qualities in the kids.

“Some of the kids who are at a lot of risk also have a lot of talent,” she said. “They have to work in groups here and their self-esteem goes up as they get out there.”

Kathy McCoy, a Correia Junior High teacher, sees value in the works that goes beyond the theatrical experience of performing on stage.

“These are real problems that these kids have seen in their lives. The good thing is that they have to come up with a positive solution. This makes these kids stars in front of their peers.”

Hall believes the Globe’s school programs can make a long-lasting difference for the student.

“Our school programs are having a tremendous effect,” he said. “And if we continue them and fund them properly, eventually we’ll see that arts in education can help keep kids out of jail and move them toward more positive goals.”

The Old Globe has put time and effort toward that end, and already has seen results, Hall said. Two of the theater’s staff members were once gang members.