Clinton Greets Valley Performers

They had traveled 2,300 miles from Van Nuys and Lake View Terrace and Granada Hills to perform an original piece about the Los Angeles riots before a national television audience and the soon-to-be President of the United States.

But little did the 17 present and former Van Nuys High School students know that they would be greeted Tuesday by Bill Clinton himself as they waited in the wings to take the stage.

Under the bright lights of the Kennedy Center and Disney Channel cameras, the Los Angeles Youth Ensemble Theater won a standing ovation from the largely teen-age audience in the concert hall.

“Unbelievable,” said Evan Feinstein, 18, a Pierce College freshman, as he hugged his colleagues moments after the cheering stopped. “It was great to hear the applause and to know we conveyed a message.”

Clinton approached the group to make his way to the stage entrance. He smiled and shook hands with each performer.

The group, under the direction of Van Nuys High drama teacher Robin Share, performed Share’s “One Day in L.A.” at the inaugural “Salute to Youth.”

The sketch mirrors the experience of Share’s students--including some of those she brought here--who had just taken the stage for a performance of “Guys and Dolls” when they heard about the riots last spring. The production was halted as parents pulled actors off the stage and other performers caught buses home to riot-torn neighborhoods.