LAGUNA BEACH : Middle School Play to Hit the Big Time

It all began four years ago in Turkey. Teacher Mark Dressler noticed that a lot of his high school students were cheating, and he wanted to do something about it.

So he wrote a play about cheating, “True Colors,” and his students performed it. Then he brought it to Laguna Beach.

Dressler’s drama students at Thurston Middle School have begun performing the high-energy play, centered on a girl who is tempted to cheat to get grades like her extremely smart older sister.

This May, the troupe of 13- and 14-year-old actors will hit the big time--the South Coast Repertory theater in Costa Mesa, after selling out three evening performances at Thurston in January.

“What’s really important is that the public knows how theater is helpful for these kids,” Dressler said after watching his students perform “True Colors” for several hundred slightly fidgety children at El Morro Elementary School here Friday morning. “It builds their self-esteem and teaches them how to solve problems.”

The student-actors say it’s just fun.

“You get to meet lots of people when you act,” said seventh-grader Lani Milette, who plays the demanding role of Serra, the lead character. “You become close friends with the cast members. It’s sad when the play’s over.”

The actors don’t just get to be the stars who recite lines. They also do all the stage work themselves, setting up the minimalist green, red, blue and yellow boxes before the show, moving them during intermissions and taking them down when it’s over.

Lani and the other actors were surprised that “True Colors,” which has jokes intended for teen-agers or adults, kept the interest of the younger students.

Even the kindergartners sat relatively still through the hourlong performance, laughing at the melodramatics and unanimously shouting “ugh” when one character sticks his tongue out while eating pizza.

One kindergartner, Katrina Smith, even ventured to shyly approach Lani after the show to ask her her age.

When Katrina asked if she, too, could be on stage when she grows up, Lani said, “Sure, you can. In a few years.” Brightening, Katrina, 6 1/2, asked, “You mean when I’m 7?”

Dressler, who also is the drama coach at Laguna Beach High School, said the Thurston students are thrilled to be able to perform at South Coast Repertory on May 8.

“Do you know how many Tonys have been won there?” exclaimed Emily Quilter, 14, a Thurston eighth-grader who plays a hippie janitor.

“I don’t know what that is,” interjected Tyler Wolfe, 13, who plays the student who helps Serra study so she doesn’t have to cheat.

“A Tony?” Emily responded. “It’s only the highest award for a play. Hello!”