Hard Look at Young, Homeless

Veering sharply from its usual fare of children’s classics and fairy tales, the Laguna Playhouse Youth Theater ventures into hard reality today.

“Lost Children” is an hourlong series of monologues and scenes based on experiences of homeless young people. Written, directed and performed by 15 members of the Repertory, the company’s advanced acting troupe, it will be presented at 7:30 p.m. at the Moulton Theatre.

The first original work by Youth Theater students in Playhouse history, according to director Joe Lauderdale, this is hardly kiddie fare. Although cast members range in age from 10 to 18, Lauderdale recommends the show for high school ages and up. Those in their early teens should attend only if they “come with parents willing to discuss (the issues presented) with them,” he said.

The show directly addresses such topics as drug use, death, child prostitution and domestic violence, and though the stories occasionally are tempered by a comic moment or a hopeful ending, the language is often rough.

(Ironically, the set--a darkly colored backdrop suggestive of a cityscape--is borrowed from the Youth Theater’s current production, “The Phantom Tollbooth,” a fantasy for ages 4 and up.)

Producing “Lost Children” was an eye-opener for a cast of middle- and upper-middle-class people, Lauderdale added. He said he thinks it helped them “break down a lot of their personal walls” about homelessness.

“There’s a speech in the beginning of the play about how people basically think of homeless people as adults. They don’t realize there are huge groups of children out there too. It’s a very uncomfortable thing to think about, but it’s true. I don’t know if we could have created in our imaginations some of the awful things these kids go through in reality.”

* “Lost Children” will be performed tonight at 7:30 at the Moulton Theatre, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. Tickets, $10, should be available at the door. (714) 494-8021.