Play’s the Thing That Links Kids in L.A., London

Before their Internet and theater exchange program began, the fourth- and fifth-graders in Los Angeles and London had some wry misconceptions about each other.

To name two: For recess in L.A., all children go to the beach to play volleyball. Some aristocratic kids in London still carry swords and write with those big feather pens.

Then along came WebPlay, a semester-long program in which children at 18 Los Angeles schools and the same number in London correspond online to learn about the others’ culture and daily lives. They use that information to help write short plays set in the other city, with advice on the Internet and in person from British theater professionals.

“Theater and the Internet are two of our strongest forms of communication; one is an ancient art and the other, brand new. We felt that together they could be a very powerful experience,” said WebPlay’s creator, Sydney Thornbury, a Los Angeles native and public school graduate who studied drama in London and worked in education there.

At El Sereno Elementary, one of the participating Los Angeles schools, fourth-grade teacher Joanne Medeiros said the exchanges open youngsters’ eyes to a wider world, as well as to history, geography, computer literacy and playwriting skills.

“The students learn very fast that they have a lot more in common than they have differences,” she said.

Angela Mazouzi, Medeiros’ partner teacher at English Martyrs School in London, agrees: “The kids just loved it. All of a sudden, the Los Angeles children became very real to them. It was almost as if they were here with us.”

During the computer exchanges, the students in each Los Angeles school are matched up with groups in London to question one another about hobbies, music, food and families. They can also refer to the WebPlay site to study photos, with sound effects, of scenes in both cities, such as L.A.’s In-N-Out Burger or the Tower Bridge on the Thames. Once written, their three-minute plays are rehearsed, videotaped and posted on the Web site.

“With WebPlay, we can really talk to classes that are not in our states and make new friends by knowing how they feel,” said El Sereno fourth-grader Seneisa Estrada. Her wish? To fly to London to meet those students face to face.

Her classmate, Arturo Guzman Jr., said: “The kids in London all have accents, but the funny thing is, they think we have accents.”

The American and British students e-mail professional artists in London at the Polka Theatre with queries. Each week, someone from the Polka Theatre is featured on the Web site, and youngsters can tour the life of a costumer, designer, playwright, director or actor.

Polka Theatre actors performed an original play, “Star Gazer” by children’s theater playwright Richard Shannon, in London and Los Angeles and conducted daylong workshops at each school in improvisation and playwriting. The troupe was in Los Angeles for three weeks earlier this spring.

In both cities, groups of four or five students collaborated to create their own plays, with enough parts for everyone.

Students at English Martyrs set their plays at Venice Beach, a film studio in Hollywood, a drive-through hamburger joint and a shopping mall. El Sereno’s writers used the Old Globe Theatre, Big Ben and Buckingham Palace as settings.

One El Sereno group wrote “Meeting Britney Spears,” in which a giddy Prince William introduces his rock singer fiancee to Queen Elizabeth. Clearly unimpressed, the queen takes one look at the dancing American and shouts, “Guards, take her away!” Britney’s response? “Hey, you’re a wicked person, you know!”

On a recent morning in the El Sereno computer lab, Medeiros’ students greeted WebPlay founder Thornbury by all donning black berets, her signature fashion item. She is a hands-on supervisor, coaching teachers, chauffeuring actors and even showing students how to impersonate Spears.

Thornbury and Medeiros make sure the dialogue is authentic. Special lists of British and American English words are posted, including “Diapers=Nappies, Potato Chips=crisps, French Fries=chips.” One El Sereno play, “The Day the Building Was in Danger” was about how the Old Globe Theatre faced closure unless the Shakespearean troupe raised 3,000 British pounds. Thornbury, who also videotaped the plays, had to re-shoot a scene several times because one actor kept saying, “We need 3,000 dollars!” instead of “pounds.”

The budget for WebPlay is about $157,000. The majority of funding comes from British education authorities and two private British foundations, the Esmee Fairbairn Charitable Trust and the Southwark Education Business Alliance. Each participating Los Angeles school pays $1,000 from its arts budget, and the school district’s arts and education branch provides matching grants.

Thornbury said her goal was to connect arts and technology for budding playwrights and actors. Through Oracle’s Think.com, a closed site for teachers and students, WebPlay crisscrosses socioeconomic and national boundaries, she said.

A graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, Thornbury studied at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts and stayed in London eight more years working with schools through arts, technology and business. She then focused on bringing WebPlay to Los Angeles, where it began last year in five schools.

Richard Alonzo, superintendent of Subdistrict F of the Los Angeles Unified School District, helped Thornbury mount El Sereno’s computer lab when the program was launched. “Through a great literacy program like WebPlay, the students are able to make a person-to-person connection, write about it and then act it out. Shy kids can become stars as they meet new worlds,” Alonzo said.

During the Polka Theatre’s visit to Los Angeles, the troupe performed for all the WebPlay students at the Los Angeles Theatre Center and was honored at a reception humorously referred to behind the scenes as “Bangers and Mash Meets Chips and Salsa.”

In a play teeming with special effects, rich characters and humor, the actors conveyed that theater has boundless possibilities. The associate director of Polka Theatre, Roman Stefanski, recalls: “It was such a joy to reach out across the pond and see the people with whom I’ve been communicating on the computer, not to mention the SUN, SUN, SUN of L.A.!”