THEATER FROM SCRATCH : A Program of Original One-Act Plays Shows Off the Multitalented Freelance Players West

They quaff Kool-Aid instead of Evian, and their idea of a power lunch is sharing a sandwich with the captain of the soccer team.

Clearly, this group is used to bucking trends.

Freelance Players West, a corps of 50 South County elementary and junior high school students, is putting a novel spin on children’s theater through a program that lets members explore the process practically from the ground up.

On Friday, April 3, the youths, who range in age from 6 to 14, will present three original one-act plays for which they have served as playwrights, designers, actors and producers. Entitled “I Don’t Want to Grow Up/I Want to Grow Up,” “Out of the Forest” and “Some Town,” the plays will be staged along with a story theater presentation of “Snow White” in a 7:30 p.m. performance at Niguel Hills Junior High School in Laguna Niguel.

According to Karen Cooper, founder of the 4-year-old program, Freelance Players West was designed not so much as a boot camp for aspiring artists as a way to enhance participants’ creativity and foster greater appreciation of literature, theater and film.

“I’ve noticed, especially with the kids I have worked with for several years, that they develop critical thinking and critical reading,” Cooper said. “They can look at a play or a book and say a character wouldn’t say this or do this. Sometimes I could cry at some of the things they come up with, they’re so astute.”

The challenge of creating plots and characters from their own imaginations, and molding them into a finished work, requires a greater level of energy and involvement on the part of the child than other more traditional kinds of children’s theater, said Cooper, who will receive her MFA in dramaturgy from UC San Diego next year.

“It’s courageous for these kids to do this,” she said. “Essentially, they’re spending another hour and a half continuing to learn after a full day of school, which I’m sure can be tough on them.”

Participants in Freelance Players West are divided roughly by age group and prior experience in the 11-week program. Classes, generally no larger than 10 or 12 students, meet weekly in a rented classroom in Laguna Niguel’s Moulton Elementary School, capped by the public performance in the final week.

From the first meeting, Cooper says she works to establish a supportive environment that encourages free expression and spontaneity.

“We begin formulating the plays in the first session,” explained Cooper. “Some of the kids who have gone through this before come full of ideas, others are very shy. We immediately establish the trust in the class; they’re free to give their ideas and take a risk.”

Themes explored by the current casts range from environmentalism to the day-to-day hassles of growing up: “Out of the Forest” brings together fairy-tale characters and a mixed bag of “real life” biologists, Girl Scouts and others to determine who actually owns the Earth’s forests. “I Don’t Want to Grow Up/I Want to Grow Up” addresses the anxieties of youth, while “Some Town,” a loose parody of Thornton Wilder’s “Our Town,” reflects the cast’s perception of south Orange County.

After their initial brainstorming, students begin to refine the story lines and characters of each play, and in the weeks that follow, further explore them through improvisation and theater games. Costumes are discussed and pieced together from items brought from the cast’s own closets.

Meanwhile, Cooper is creating a rough script, bringing it into the classes in sections for the students’ feedback.

“They really have an input,” noted Cooper, adding that scripts are routinely changed right up to performance time. “They’ll stop and say ‘I don’t understand why my character is doing this or that.’ Sometimes they’re right, but even if they’re not, they’re thinking about it. I want them to be critical.”

Even the youngest participants have their say. In “Snow White,” a teen-aged narrator provides the story’s basic framework, but the characters pipe up with their own, often humorous, dialogue.

Although Freelance Players West has no formal affiliation with a school district, Cooper sees it as a viable way to bridge the gap between arts education and shrinking public school budgets. She is currently seeking nonprofit status for her group, and ultimately hopes to expand it to include a wider range of visual and performing arts classes.

As it stands now, the skills her students carry away from her program will benefit them far beyond the stage, she said.

“Even if a child isn’t interested in going into the arts, they’re still gaining creativity and the ability to think through a problem, which is a skill we can all use.”

What: Freelance Players West in three original one-act plays plus a story theater presentation of “Snow White.”

When: Friday, April 3, at 7:30 p.m.

Where: Niguel Hills Junior High School, 29072 Paseo Escuela, Laguna Niguel

Whereabouts: Travel south on the San Diego (405) Freeway to Crown Valley Parkway, and turn right. Turn left on Street of the Golden Lantern, and left on Paseo Escuela. The school is located at the end of the cul-de-sac.

Wherewithal: All tickets are $1.

Where to call: (714) 493-9701.