IRVINE : Play About AIDS to Be Given at School

A play known for its sober and unflinching look at teen-agers and AIDS will be presented at Sierra Vista Middle School on Thursday night.

“Secrets,” a drama produced by the Kaiser Permanente Medical Care Program and previously shown at high schools across the county, has met with praise in Irvine since it was performed at Lakeside Middle School last month.

“I think the information is very important,” said Carolyn McInerney, the PTA president at Stonecreek Elementary School. “I’m glad they are showing it.”

But because some school district officials believe the play contains material that some parents could view as sensitive, the performances are being sponsored by the Orange County Junior League rather than by the Irvine Unified School District.

Those concerns were also a factor in showing the drama at night when students can attend with their parents, instead of during the day, school board members and junior league officials said.

“We’re happy to do it this way (rather) than not doing it at all,” said Kathleen Young, who works with both the Junior League and Adolescent Pregnancy ChildWatch.

The play follows a high school athlete as he contracts AIDS and comes to realize that he might have infected sexual partners.

The play’s hip dialogue and realistic themes are designed to grab teen-agers’ interest and educate them about the AIDS virus and AIDS prevention.

Thursday’s performance will be for eighth-graders and their parents. Young said that one scene involving a condom demonstration will be taken out of the performance. “We are aware that this scene can be objectionable to a lot of people,” she said.

Several school board members said Tuesday that they had no objection to having the play presented and that they hoped students and their parents would learn from it.

“All I’ve heard is positive things about it,” said Trustee Mary Ellen Hadley. “I haven’t heard anything negative.”

Trustee Margie Wakeham said that students can get useful information from the play and that having parents watch it with their children might help stimulate discussion about AIDS and sex.

A videotape of “Secrets” was previewed by the district’s Health Advisory Committee earlier this year. Though most committee members reacted favorably to the play, some members had concerns about some of the content, school board members said.