THEATER REVIEW : Cornerstone’s ‘Rushing Waters’ Joins Drama, Social Therapy

How many theater companies in this country would brave imposing themselves on a community with which they’ve had no previous connection, research the history of the area, create a piece embracing its past and present, invite some 60 people from every ethnic group in the neighborhood to participate, and mount a complex production from the ground up?

One. The Cornerstone Theater Company, which is proving in Pacoima that it can mix theater and social therapy and still come up with exhilarating results.

The members of this roving company, which came to town only last year, have a habit of doing this sort of thing. Their first Los Angeles endeavor, “The Toy Truck,” in August, involved the senior citizens of Angelus Plaza downtown.

“Rushing Waters,” their current project, is a much larger, bolder and braver undertaking.

Undaunted by the ethnic caldron of Pacoima--which encompasses (as does their show) African-Americans, Asian-Americans, American Indians, Latinos and whites--Cornerstone commissioned playwright Migdalia Cruz, a Puerto Rican from the Bronx, to forge a musical history of the area. (What’s one more cultural element when so many already abound?)

The bilingual result, “Rushing Waters” (an Anglo approximation of the Shoshone Indian name for Pacoima and a reference to the various flood disasters in the area), incorporates myth and modernity to explore current issues crucial to the town. These include racism, drugs, violence, child neglect and the spiritual quest for healing.

All this and music too.

With the help of the band Native Sun and 22 engaging original songs, mostly composed by Sun’s Darren Brady and Danny Vicente, “Rushing Waters” takes off from a Chicago family’s ill-fated vacation in Southern California.

When young Molly (Trinidad Barajas) becomes separated from her squabbling parents, Fiona (Maggie Palomo) and Lonny (Benajah Cobb), she’s invited to enter a complex metaphysical realm of angels and devils, benevolent spirit guides, historical icons and lost children whose leader, Timeovermattermysticyouth (Tommy for short), is an American Indian Peter Pan who was killed by missionaries as a boy in Paco-ee-ma in 1771. Tommy (Donahue Tom) is befriended and mothered by Mariko (Joanne Mayumi), a victim of the 1938 San Fernando Valley flood who, while searching for her own children, found Tommy curled up at the bottom of the water.

Tommy’s tribe of lost children showers Molly with affection, refusing to return her to her repentant parents, who now realize the extent of the injury they’ve caused their child. As part of their contrition, Fiona and Lonny are put through drawn-out anguish in an otherworldly waiting room peopled with celebrities who bear some connection to Pacoima (a clunky overextension for the script).

In time, there is a reconciliation, a sentimental catharsis for the play and a tearful-joyful reunion with Molly, who brings with her a slightly bigger family than her parents had bargained for.

As is usually the case when you mix professional actors with a large contingent of enthusiastic non-pros, the piece works by fits and starts. While the far-reaching sociological benefits are rich and obvious and have a potent unifying effect, “Waters” is also raw and flawed in places. This is especially so in its second half, with its heavy-handed inclusion of local heroes (Joe Louis and Charles Lindbergh are dragged in by the shirttails), its facile resolutions and a gratuitous reference to child molestation.

But the work is also to be admired as an ambitious piece of art. Cruz has strong, imaginative ideas that director Bill Rauch implements with his usual zany verve, invention and a remarkable degree of coherence given the number of performers and the extensive melodic throb of the piece. Its achievements in the end far outweigh its faults.

Rauch dedicates “Rushing Waters” “to Efrain Lopez, Tiffany Dozier and all the other men, women and children lost to violence and racism in Pacoima, Ca., and the rest of the world.”

On Friday, the day this reviewer saw the show, three more teen-agers were seriously wounded in Pacoima in an after-school drive-by shooting.

This play and its conciliatory spirit come not a moment too soon.

* “Rushing Waters,” Boys and Girls Club of San Fernando Valley, 11251 Glenoaks Blvd., Pacoima. Thursdays-Saturdays,8 p.m.; Sundays, 5 p.m. Ends next Sunday. $7; (818) 890-7304. Running time: 2 hours, 50 minutes. Maggie Palomo: Fiona Ramirez

Benajah Cobb: Lonny Ayres

Trinidad Barajas: Molly Ayres-Ramirez

Jackie De Santiago: Mocapia

Harris Craig Jr.: Amiocap

Donahue Tom: Grown-Up Tommy

Joanne Mayumi: Mariko Kawaguchi

Herman Berry: Para-Dice

Verdine Parker: The Rev. Dolores Joy

Dwan Smith-Fortier: Mrs. Nancy Avery

Oscar Salcedo Pfc.: David Gonzales

Charles Nettles: Joe Louis

Omar Garcia: Ritchie Valens

Martin Stern: Charles Lindbergh

Richard Miro: Daryl Gates/Sgt. Fear/Sgt. Flame/Priest

Santiago Olmos: Juego

Augustine Mario Quiroga: Musico

A. Edgar Pleitez: Edmundo

Dane Nelsen: A Lone Cowboy

Tabitha Nettles, Asani Smith, Krishonda Stewart, Toi Strong, Vernita Thomas Fierce Pierce Girls

Veronica Barajas, Patricia Barajas, Anna Castrellon, Veronica Gonzales, Veronica Naba Cholas

Elena Epps, Rhonda Hoskins, Adrian Lara, Franky Moreno, Josie Moreno, Octavio and Rolando Ramirez, Andre de Sant’anna Children of Rushing Waters

Angelia Fowler, Melba Hoskins, Richard Miro, Verdine Parker Chorus of Reason

Herman Berry, Sharon Garrett Chorus of Treason

A production of the Cornerstone Theater Company and the Boys and Girls Club of San Fernando Valley. Executive producer Stephen Gutwillig. Producer Leslie Tamaribuchi. Director Bill Rauch. Playwright Migdalia Cruz. Sets and costumes Lynn Jeffries. Lights Geoff Korff. Choral director LaRue Marshall. Composers Danny Vicente, Darren Brady, LaRue Marshall, Augustine Mario Quiroga. Musical directors Danny Vicente, Darren Brady. Choreographer Jan Kirsch. Band Native Sun. Production manager Pamela H. Neyhouse. Stage manager Juanita Dias Costa.