Staging a Solution to the War of the Words

In South Coast Repertory’s “Rhubarb Jam,” youngsters see the toll that harsh words can take, whether the barbs are flung on the schoolyard or in the boardroom.

The musical, which was launched on a tour of Southland schools Wednesday, reminds children (and adults, if they’re listening) that conflict should be resolved in its infancy. Turn your back on this baby, it cautions, and it can grow into a monster.

“Rhubarb Jam” will visit about 100 schools by the end of May. Although there is limited public seating at a performance at Rancho Santiago College next week, two public performances are scheduled in the spring.

Written by SCR literary manager John Glore with a handful of tunes by Michael Silversher and wacko visuals by Dwight Richard Odle, “Rhubarb Jam” plunks viewers smack in the middle of Tussletiff, a seemingly quiet town in the nation of Skirmish. Here, on a sunny schoolyard, we meet pals Benedick, a Skirmish native, and Beatrice, an immigrant from neighboring Imbroglio.

Peeved by Benedick’s teasing, Beatrice swipes the boy’s prized rhubarb jam scrumpkin. Nasty words are exchanged, and the tiff quickly grows to twister proportion, sweeping the kids, their parents and the puffed-up potentates of their respective countries onto the brink of World War IV.

After the show last week at Springbrook Elementary School in Irvine, third-grader Erin English said she pinned the part of the blame on Benedick (“He shouldn’t have teased her”) but said the real culprit here was the friends’ stubborn refusal to make amends.

“They should have said right away that they didn’t want to fight,” she said.

Nine-year-old classmate Steve Sentner agreed.

“They should have talked about [the problem] right from the beginning,” he said. “It’s stupid to fight when you could just talk.”

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Conflict resolution is a hot issue at Springbrook, as it is at most California schools, said first-grade teacher Mary Hessler. Administrators use problem-solving charts, peer mediators or other creative means to help youngsters avoid or defuse small conflicts before they get out of control. Shows such as “Rhubarb Jam” underscore those lessons for students, teaching them to be “really conscious of the process” people must follow to resolve their differences, she said.

At just 40 minutes long, “Rhubarb Jam” can’t spell out that process in much detail without running the risk of being preachy, the playwright said.

“Some of the language and the ideas in the story are pretty sophisticated,” said Glore, whose plays include a 1995 adaptation of “The Stinky Cheese Man” for the Young Conservatory Players and “The Company of Heaven,” produced at SCR in 1993. “I was worried that the younger ones might not get it.”

The Imps are one of the elements that younger viewers might not get, at least at first pass. They are Imbroglian troublemakers, outsiders in a strange land who encourage Beatrice to join them in righting the wrongs done to all Imbroglians. They’re dressed alike and often move and speak in unison.

“Certainly, the Imps are meant to allude to gangs, the way that gang members lose a lot of their individuality,” Glore said. “They’re a way of escalating conflict. . . . From their point of view, they’re a family who are only out to look out for their own.”

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Also fanning the flames is Mr. Gogadim (that’s demagogue turned sideways), an invective-spewing rabble-rouser who stirs up the Skirmish residents. Gogadim’s impassioned “us against them” diatribe has an edge that only older kids and adults are likely to catch.

There are plenty of boffo moments, too, thanks to Glore’s judicious use of kid jargon and buffoonery. Odle’s outlandish costumes and silly props for the generals (such as the roll of toilet paper on the Skirmish seat of power) heighten the absurdity further. Silversher’s music is used sparingly but with good effect.

Silversher, who has collaborated on several SCR touring shows and was nominated for an Emmy for the music in the Muppet special “Mr. Willoughby’s Christmas,” says “Rhubarb Jam” was most challenging for “the music I didn’t write. “I spent a lot of time figuring out how to musically move the plot forward . . . without getting in the way of John’s wonderful language, which is what’s important here. My job is not necessarily to have the music call attention to itself, but to call attention to what is being said.”

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In fact, Silversher said, the “Rhubarb” song that means the most to him has no lyrics at all. Its single word--”because”--is the musical link in a game the children play when they start to sort out their troubles.

“Musically, it works very subliminally,” Silversher explained. “It’s a focusing piece. . . . It takes them on the backward journey that helps them understand the problem and each other.”

The public will have more chances to see this touring show than in past years. Two public performances of “Rhubarb Jam” in late spring will replace the resident theater’s annual production of the Young Conservatory Players, which had dwindled in recent years from several shows to a single production. The season was canceled this year because, in part, of changes in the conservatory leadership, an SCR spokeswoman confirmed.

The next performance is Monday at Rancho Santiago College’s Phillips Hall. To allow attendance by youngsters from selected schools that are unable to afford the show’s $390 booking fee, that show is underwritten by the Orange County chapters of Links Inc. and the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, the Women’s Diversity Forum and Rancho Santiago College’s fine and performing arts division. Seats also will be available to the public on a first-come, first-served basis.

* “Rhubarb Jam,” South Coast Repertory’s educational touring production, will be presented Monday at 10 a.m. Phillips Hall, Rancho Santiago College, 1530 W. 17th St., Santa Ana. Free, but reservations are required, and seats to the public are limited. (714) 564-6475. Tickets for the May 31 and June 1 shows start at $8 and will go on sale Feb. 15. (714) 957-4033.