Youths Who Pen the Write Stuff Take Center Stage

Not Child’s Play: Relationships between lovers, family members and the disenfranchised are explored in this year’s crop of winning “Plays by Young Writers ‘93,” set to run in repertory at the Old Globe Theatre’s Cassius Carter Centre Stage in San Diego from Wednesday to Nov. 21.

“Program X” will feature “Rules of Romance,” a satire of young love by Loyola Marymount College student Daniel Pierce, 17, and “December Pairs,” a look at intimacy in a world of anonymity by 16-year-old Jim Knable of Sacramento. In “Program O,” Emily Gross, 17, of Alpine, now a freshman at San Francisco State University, explores the bonds and conflicts between a single mother and her teen-age son in “The Divorce Papers,” and 18-year-old Thomas Hyatt of Whittier takes a humorous look at fathers and sons in his farce, “Objects in the Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear.”

The four plays, chosen by theater professionals from 148 entries in the statewide California Young Playwrights Contest, are being sponsored and produced by the national Playwrights Project.

Several past winners of the 9-year-old contest have gone on to be published and produced in stage and film, including Josefina Lopez, now a staff writer for Fox Television, whose play, “Simply Maria, or the American Dream” was premiered by the Playwrights Project and toured the state as a Teatro Campesino production.

Information: (619) 239-2255.

Mask Mania: Los Angeles County students, from kindergarten through 12th grade, can let their imaginations run wild in a mask-making contest celebrating “Visiones del Pueblo: The Folk Art of Latin America,” an exhibition at the Natural History Museum on display through Jan. 5.

Using any materials, contestants must design and create a wearable mask no larger than 18 inches tall or 18 inches wide.

Judges will select 48 winners, based on originality, creativity in design, use of materials, overall visual impact, composition and function. Each winner will receive a cash prize of $25, attend a special artists’ reception and their masks will be displayed from Dec. 11 to Jan. 5 at the museum.

Entries, with a completed entry form securely attached on the back, should be mailed in a box or large envelope to the Visiones del Pueblo Youth Art Exhibit, Education Division, Natural History Museum, 900 Exposition Blvd., Los Angeles, Calif., 90007. Hand deliveries will be accepted on Nov. 20-21 only, at the museum’s Staff/Handicapped entrance on Exposition Boulevard. The deadline for entries is Nov. 21. Call (213) 744-3534 for entry forms.

Arts Opportunities: The Music Center Education Division is offering admission-free weekend workshops in the arts to help students explore and develop their own talent.

Elementary, middle and high school groups are invited to attend free dance demonstrations, presented by master dancer-choreographer Bella Lewitzky and the Lewitzky Dance Company at various theater locations in December and May. For more information, contact Marianne Corney at (213) 972-7359 by Nov. 15.

Student musicians, ages 15-25, are invited to participate in daylong master class seminars with members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic in the rehearsal rooms of the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Presented by Corwin/Philharmonic Seminars, sessions for violin, string bass, flute, piano, bassoon and percussion are scheduled on Saturdays during February through May. Interested students should call Richard Greeley at (213) 972-7480 by Feb. 1.