A youthful struggle is all over the map

To mark its 20th year of operation, Cornerstone Theater Company developed its latest project, “Demeter in the City,” in collaboration with a particularly diverse, lively and challenging demographic: 20-year-olds.

In keeping with Cornerstone’s mission to create new works integrating its core theater professionals with representatives of different ethnic, cultural and socioeconomic communities, the company enlisted playwright Sarah Ruhl to explore thoughts and feelings of young Angelenos as they leave home to face the onset of adult responsibilities.

Tapping the life stories of kids recently out of foster homes, social workers, college students from a broad spectrum of social and ideological stripes, and, most of all, impoverished unwed mothers in Compton struggling with drug addiction, child abuse and the termination of their parental rights, Ruhl uncovered common themes centered on separation, loss and confusion.

To give shape to material collected during a year of interviews, writing exercises and workshops, Ruhl turned to the Greek myth of Demeter, the Earth goddess of the harvest, whose beloved daughter Persephone was stolen by Hades and forced to become his underworld bride.

In the play’s update, Demeter (Cornerstone veteran Bahni Turpin) is a 20-year-old heroin addict from Compton, whose newborn child is taken away by social services, plunging her into battle with both her own demons and an incomprehensible legal system presided over by a stern, godlike judge (Peter Howard).

Given numerous contributing voices and structuring principle rooted in metaphorical myth rather than realistic narrative, “Demeter in the City” isn’t as cohesive as some Cornerstone efforts. Its patchwork of personal anecdotes, statistics, poetry, sociological analysis, political opinion and song is presented with minimal filtering and judgment -- or fact-checking, for that matter.

Demeter is an amalgam of anguished mothers seeking to reclaim their children from family intervention agencies. In her conflicted and sometimes contradictory outbursts, Turpin manages a commanding, unifying presence, even when Demeter’s choices aren’t the smartest. Through Demeter’s quest for her daughter, we see her evolve from naive victim to a wiser woman who discovers her own identity (with help from the shamelessly plugged SHIELDS for Families organization).

A 20-year fast forward finds smart, spunky Persephone (Sade Moore), now a university freshman newly out of foster care and determined to buck the statistics of failure associated with former foster children. Lightening the show are her witty sparring matches with a California Young Republican (Sonny Valicenti) who is crusading against “legislated diversity.” To Persephone, he’s just “passionate about being selfish.” Naturally, they’re irresistibly attracted to each other.

A chorus of 12 enthusiastic young actors assume various supporting roles and personalities -- particularly effective are the heartbreaking reflections of former foster children on their broken families. “It’s not a good system,” says one. “It’s like a dam. There are too many cracks.”

Director Shishir Kurup skillfully weaves the talents of his ensemble’s amateur and professional actors in a polished presentation that makes good use of the immersive REDCAT performance space. The second act cleverly imparts archetypal depth and dramatic momentum to these characters by mapping them onto their counterparts from the original myth.

Demeter/Persephone purists will no doubt protest the liberties taken, but the show mines authentic, heartfelt insight into the turbulent, inevitable schisms between parents and children wrought by time, maturity and circumstance.

*

‘Demeter in the City’

Where: REDCAT Theatre, 631 W. 2nd St., Los Angeles

When: 8:30 p.m. Wednesday through Friday; 5 and 9 p.m. Saturday; 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday

Ends: Sunday

Price: $10

Contact: (213) 237-2800 or www.redcat.org

Running time: 2 hours