KCET Special Shows How to Help Youths Avoid Violence

If you’re concerned about kids, tune into “Act Now!,” a two-hour TV special Sunday at 5 p.m. that will show viewers ways they can become community volunteers to help young people safely deal with and avoid conflict.

Created by KCET (Channel 28), the Volunteer Center of Los Angeles, more than 20 youth service agencies and KKBT radio (92.3 The Beat), the program will be simulcast by KCET and Orange County public television station KOCE.

“There is such a growing concern about youth violence in our society,” said Laurel Lambert, KCET’s director of advertising and promotion.

“Everybody’s saying, ‘what can we do about it, where do you go, how do you do this?’ This program is a way for those people to find out how they can help. It’s designed to alleviate some of the fears about volunteering. We’re going to show that there are so many different ways people can help find solutions to this problem.”

“Act Now” is part of “Act Against Violence,” public broadcasting’s national campaign to reduce youth violence.

The list of participating organizations includes the American Academy of Pediatrics, Big Brother and Big Sister groups, L.A.’s Best and many, many more. You can also call KCET’s Community Outreach Department during working hours at (213) 953-5577 for volunteer information.

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Child’s Plays: The play’s the thing--at least that’s what L.A. Parent Magazine hopes as it presents four free playwriting seminars for children ages 8 to 12 on Feb. 10 at various Los Angeles area locations.

Children attending will participate in dialogue exercises and learn about dramatic conflict, character and story lines. The seminars will be led by professional playwrights Willard Simms, Hank Bunker, Leigh Curran and Cheryl Slean.

L.A. Parent will invite the attendees to submit a one-act play of their own to its “Kids’ Playwriting Contest.” Four to seven plays will be chosen to be produced for an early June event. They will be performed by children from local acting workshops.

Kids don’t need to attend the seminar to enter, however.

“Whether or not they attend the seminar, children [ages 8 to 12] will be very welcome to submit a play,” said Janis Hashe, senior editor at the magazine and president of Theatre of Note’s board of directors. “All children who submit a play will receive a certificate. We want children to come away with the sense that their creativity is being encouraged.”

The program was born out of a desire to make the magazine “more actively involved in promoting the arts among kids,” Hashe said.

The deadline for play submissions is April 1. Preregistration for the seminars is necessary as space is limited to 35 children each. For seminar and contest information, call the “Playwriting Hotline”: (818) 846-0400, Ext. 253.

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Singer of Note: John McCutcheon, a noted children’s music favorite, is making two local appearances. The recent Grammy nominee for Best Music Album for Children for “Summersongs,” McCutcheon is a folk singer-instrumentalist-storyteller with musical roots deep in the Appalachians. He will perform a family concert at the Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks on Friday and at Caltech on Saturday.

* Thousand Oaks Civic Arts Plaza’s Forum Theatre, 2100 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., Friday, 7 p.m., $8-$10. (805) 650-5900, (805) 583-8700; Caltech, Beckman Auditorium, Michigan Avenue south of Del Mar Boulevard, Pasadena, Saturday, 2 p.m., $5 per child; $9 per adult. [800] 423-8849, [818] 395-4652.