County’s History On Stage : Teen-Agers Research, Write About and Portray People From the Past

The young woman, dressed in a long blue skirt and long-sleeved white blouse, tapped her right foot on the floor as she warned a group of other women about the evils of drinking.

“It excites the heart, hinders the digestion, disturbs the liver and stupefies the brain,” she said. “It is nothing but shame water. Like its evil cousin tobacco, liquor does nothing but interfere with the freedom of God’s good people.”

The make-believe grown-up was 14-year-old Angela Galbraith of Santa Paula, who plays Mrs. Jones, a character in a play about the history of western Ventura County.

Angela and other 17 teen-agers from Ventura to Fillmore researched, helped write and soon will perform the play, “Tales of Fortune, the Stories of Ventura County,” in Oxnard, Ventura and Santa Paula.

Sponsored by the Hundred Hats Theater Company, the nearly two-hour play is a collection of short stories depicting what life was like from 1860 to 1930.

“It was a fascinating project because the county is so rich with history,” said Terry Brenner-Farrell, who operates Hundred Hats. “We had the Chumash, the Spaniards, then the Europeans who came from the East Coast--and they all had interesting ways of seeing life.”

This was the first time that Brenner-Farrell, who has been acting or teaching drama for 20 years, had her students participate in the research and writing of a play.

“I want to involve the kids in as many aspects of the play as possible,” she said. “It gives them a chance to learn beyond acting.”

The project began in early July when Brenner-Farrell and the youngsters spent half a day at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art.

There, students read books and newspaper clippings and listened to oral histories recorded by early county residents. As they researched characters, the youngsters took notes on what they thought would be interesting to today’s residents.

“I had a lot of fun because there were a lot of funny stories,” said 12-year-old Peter Krause of Santa Paula. “But it was also hard work, because we needed to select facts that would mean something for people today.”

Although students helped with the project, Brenner-Farrell is the primary writer of the play, which begins with oilman Thomas Bard speaking to a Chumash Indian. Then a Spaniard announces the building of the Ventura Mission.

The play travels through the ranchero era, explores what types of racism there were in the county in the early 1900s and how immigrants were perceived. It also tells why Ojai came to be known as Ojai and not Nordhoff and how Santa Paula became a dry (alcohol-free) town in 1909.

“Doing the play taught me a lot of things about Ventura County--things that I don’t think I would have learned somewhere else,” said 15-year-old Elianna Arnott of Santa Paula.

The youngsters also learned about marketing and publicity, said Brenner-Farrell, who has been with the nonprofit theater since 1987.

Each student had to sell at least 15 tickets for the three shows as well as raise funds for the production.

Angela Galbraith, for instance, sold $400 worth of advertising to go on the playbill.

Brenner-Farrell said she may have youngsters do a similar project next summer that would explore the history of Ventura County from 1930 to the present.

“It was too much to have in one play,” she said.

The show will be performed in the Santa Paula Theater Center Saturday and Sunday and again on Aug. 22; at the Ventura County Museum of History and Art in Ventura on Aug. 26 and at the Gull Wings Children’s Museum in Oxnard on Aug. 27.

Tickets are $5.

The Hundred Hats company offers acting classes to children throughout the year. Information or reservations: 645-5376.