The theater saved actor Eric Waterhouse when...

The theater saved actor Eric Waterhouse when he was in high school, so now he’s using the theater to save other teen-agers.

The method is Theater Quest, whose production of Peter Shaffer’s play “Equus” opens tonight in Pasadena.

“In high school I was suicidal,” said Waterhouse, a 38-year-old Pasadena native.

He was using drugs and getting into trouble when a drama teacher turned him on to Tennessee Williams, William Shakespeare and others.

“I believe that I wouldn’t be here today if it wasn’t for theater,” the actor said.

But with budget cuts eliminating arts programs from many public schools, young people no longer have that to fall back on. Enter Theater Quest, a nonprofit group Waterhouse helped found.

“Basically, we’re trying to use the tools that we have to meet some of the needs that are happening,” Waterhouse said. “We’re trying to use the teaching of the creative arts to give (teen-agers) a tool to deal with this crazy world.

The second aspect of that is that a lot of these kids don’t have the family to draw from. We’re trying to give them kind of a second family to lean on through their trials.”

This second family is a group of entertainment industry professionals who are matched with the teen-agers as mentors during the production of a play. The professionals include Epic Records composer Tom Howard and acting coach and college professor John Cochran, who plays the psychiatrist Dysart.

“What’s really interesting is that the professionals find that they’re being mentored as much as the youths,” Waterhouse said. “So they get challenged and excited about the whole situation and the kids decide that there’s more to this than money.”

The show will play at 8 p.m. through Saturday at the Labor Temple, 42 E. Walnut St. Admission is $10.