FOUNTAIN VALLEY : Stop-Gap Troupe Fights Closed Minds

They brood onstage, moving deliberately and silently. Then, with a burst, the three actors fire off their lines at an audience of teen-agers at Valley Vista High School in Fountain Valley.

“ They’re all standing around on street corners,” says one actor. “ They come in and buy things,” complains another. “Why can’t they live like us ,” the third actor gripes.

The threesome are part of Stop-Gap, a Santa Ana-based theater group that uses drama to educate young adults and children about issues such as racial prejudice. About 30 actors perform with the troupe and present plays to about 600 elementary, middle and high school classes in Orange and Los Angeles counties each year.

Wednesday morning, the team presented a play about ethnic diversity before about 100 students at the Fountain Valley continuation school. The performance was funded through a grant from Southern California Edison.

“Our demographics are changing and diversity is increasing, so it’s becoming a big issue in this (school) district,” said Terri Bovberg, a Valley Vista teacher.

The high school is part of the Huntington Beach Union High School District, which has a student population that is 80% white, 11% Latino and 8% Asian American, according to fall, 1993, statistics.

Bovberg has invited the nonprofit drama group to bring its act to the school in the past. Sometimes Stop-Gap discusses sexual assault; often its skits touch on substance abuse.

“The kids like to see theater,” Bovberg said. “They’re so used to going to movies, and our kids need to visualize issues.”

A short drama, “Use My Real Name,” told the story of a boy who immigrates to Orange County with his family and discovers prejudice as he grows up.

Actor Jaime Ferrar stood on stage, playing a 10-year-old who talked excitedly about moving to an apartment in Irvine, Costa Mesa or San Clemente, among other cities. But a landlord, played by D Renee Brooks, steered his family instead to other cities, which have large Latino and Asian populations. “I think you’d feel more comfortable there,” she said.

After the play, actor Robert Knapp asked the students to think about what can be done about prejudice and where it comes from.

Students raised their hands. “Parents,” a few said. “Television,” said others, who also mentioned friends and fear of people who are “different.”

The actors solicited student volunteers to improvise roles in racial discussions. It was Valley Vista student Lee Allen’s turn to take center stage.

Allen stood up from the audience and assumed the role of the stern father of Ferrar’s character, a Latino boy who got into a fight with a black girl at school.

“That girl, she gets on my nerves, Dad,” Ferrar said.

Allen was not at a loss for words.

“Well, you get on my nerves, too, son,” Allen said, sending laughter through the ranks of his classmates.

Allen talked to the actors after the performance ended, because he wants to break into drama. He has performed in school plays, he said, and is interested in Stop-Gap.

“I loved it because racial discussions aren’t stressed as much as they should be,” he said.

Victoria Bryan, who co-founded Stop-Gap in 1979, said the theater group is now developing an interactive play that will help teen-agers develop their ability to make decisions in tough situations.

“As opposed to reading something or hearing a lecture, theater reaches our emotions,” Bryan said. “We empathize with characters. Drama touches us. If something arouses strong feeling in you, you retain that for the rest of your life.”