Kids sink their lives into production

Eric Leake

Wednesday, April 13, 2005 | 8:53 a.m.

Tickets

For "(W)Rites of Passage" showtimes or tickets call the theater box office at 229-6211. Tickets are $3 for children, $5 for teens and seniors, and $7 for adults. Seating is limited.

The students who wrote and designed, who are acting in and producing "(W)rites of Passage," can tell you what is unique about the play.

"I think what we're trying to do with the whole is communicate what kids in Las Vegas are thinking about," Valley High School senior Miranda Hannasch said.

"It's very real because people are communicating their actual experiences."

"(W)Rites of Passage" is composed entirely of pieces written and performed by students. The play opened Friday and continues at the Reed Whipple Cultural Center Studio Theatre through Sunday.

The Rainbow Company Youth Theatre is producing the play. Company artistic director and play director Karen McKenney said the play speaks in a way more traditional ones cannot.

"It's a different viewpoint. It's the viewpoint of young people," said McKenney, one of the few adults working with the play.

Rainbow Company began collecting student-written pieces for the play at the beginning of the year. A local playwright held workshops at various schools.

"A lot of them are anecdotes or incidents that they're reporting," McKenney said of the pieces.

She said some were poignant, and, "there were some that just made me guffaw out loud that I was delighted with."

Production students next took the pieces and wove them together by theme and with music.

McKenney said students also designed the costumes and the set. They work backstage.

"I didn't know what to expect, you never know what to expect when you're working with young people," she said. "I was very pleasantly surprised."

Sierra Vista High School senior Evan Walker wrote one of the selected pieces and is working lights for the play. His contribution is about growing up with friends in Las Vegas.

"It was really touching to write. When I was writing it, I was emotional because this is my life, this is what I go through," Walker said.

Hannasch, who also wrote one of the scenes and is acting in the play, said, "The hardest thing about acting in this show is being true to the writing. People really put their heart into the writing.

"There are some pieces that people wrote that are very brave, with writers revealing things that are very personal."

It was difficult, she said, to bring all of the pieces together into a unified show, though she said that variety is part of the play's appeal.

"I think it does flow very well because kids are thinking about the same things, about school and family," she said.