Media and Reviews

Silverlake children’s theater tackles politics, big business and much more

Children’s theater. Hotbed of Cinderella, talking trees and perhaps a venture into the world of risque with Travolta and Newton John’s “Grease.” That is, except in Hollywood adjacent, i.e. Silverlake.

Here plays the Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group, a youthful theatrical entourage, ages 6-17, that seems to have decided standard children’s theater just isn’t enough of a kick — or issue-oriented enough.

“Buy America,” this weekend’s SCTG original (words and score) musical, takes on the corporados of big discount, though any similarity between humongous outlets, like say, Wal-Mart or Costco, I have been reassured (was that a wink?) is only happenstance.

So was the similarity between “Attack of the Killer Kids,” a parable about a large English-speaking democracy’s invasion of a Middle Eastern principality, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

And “The Passion of the Bush” was just a coincidence of … oh heck. They were all about what they sound like. Rather liberal views of real issues. And from Silverlake yet. Who would have thunk?

But before you think that this group of kids is purely some left-winged, George Soros-supported political bloc, it is important to understand that there are children from all political persuasions involved in SCTG, though it wasn’t made clear what the makeup of the kids was in the all-important 7- to 9-year-old demographic. And the big bucks of political PACs are nonexistent. This is an all-volunteer army.

“Buy America” was co-written by 17-year-old Phoebe Minette, who admits to being only a mere 16 when she actually wrote the play with SCTG’s founder and director, screenwriter Broderick Miller.

“The play’s morals and the political messages are really important because young people aren’t that politically involved, but Broderick helps us bring that out and it makes us think,” says Minette. “We do have Republicans (in SCTG), but no matter what our political views are, we still like each other.”

In 2001, Miller volunteered to put on an original play for children at the Hollywood-Silverlake Jewish Community Center. After taking his daughter to a production of “Babes in Toyland,” he saw a need to write something smarter for young people.

“‘Babes in Toyland’ played at such a moronic, mushy level for kids,” said Miller. “I thought the whole thing was pandering and condescending — as if kids all thought at a 3-year-old level. I took a vow that if I ever directed children’s theater, it had to be intelligent theater.”

A former president of California Young Republicans, Miller, who has swung left in a big way, “enlightened by the women in his life,” says that these endeavors are more about focusing on the worlds both inside and outside each child’s local community.

And boy has this one affected the community.

“‘Buy America’ inspired us to host a community awareness party for the local merchants,” said Miller. “Every actor in the play invited three local merchants to a free cocktail reception. It was not a fundraiser. We didn’t hit up the merchants for ads or donations. The point of the evening was to bring the merchants, kids and parents of our community just a little bit closer; to involve our kids in community activism; and to teach our children the importance of supporting local businesses over franchise stores. The small business owners loved it.”

And now, word of this small, local community “action” theater company is starting to get national attention.

Besides being the only children’s theater group invited to appear at the prestigious Edgefest Festival, an eminent political documentarian (not named Moore) is currently filming “Buy America” rehearsals and performances to be used in his latest hush-hush documentary.

The kids don’t seem to feel too nervous about the potential of offending some who may question the musical’s politics. “Both sides of view are presented,” said Ellie Bensinger, the 14-year-old leading lady in “Buy America.” “If someone has a problem with it, they probably just don’t understand it. I think they should come and talk to us about it.”

Here’s an excerpt from the dialogue:

Michael: Thanks, but you’ve done enough. You wanna know what these franchise stores really are? Tombstones — all across America, the world. And if you read the engraving, they all say something like this: “Here lies the shell of once what was a thriving, beautiful town that we called home. Rest in Peace.”

Paula: No. We’re a bunch of parents with jobs who have a hard enough time making enough for food, clothes, rent and the electric bill — know what I mean? I can’t afford high-minded principles when I can’t afford things for my kids.

Hmm. Balanced. Open to mature debate. Quite adult.

Looks like our future is in good hands.

— Steve Young

When the nonprofit Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group puts on a show, big issues in comic trappings are the order of the day. Past shows have tackled the Iraq invasion and stressed-out teens. Life, death and art are themes in an upcoming show, “The Window,” slated as part of L.A.’s 2005 Edge of the World Theater Festival in the fall.

The group’s current venture, “Buy America,” takes on the issues surrounding the effect that megastores such as Wal-Mart have on small towns.

Co-written by 16-year-old company member Phoebe Minette and artistic director Broderick Miller, and featuring an original score by Andy Chukerman, it centers on an ambitious corporate executive who learns something about community — and herself — as she tries to persuade small-town residents to ease zoning laws for an incoming megastore.

The actors, ages 6 to 18, engaged in lengthy discussions about issues the play raises, and that “is an organic part of the writing,” Miller says. “The main message is not to demonize Wal- Mart and Costco but that every community has an identity and that’s an important thing to protect.” It may sound serious, but all the group’s shows, staged by volunteers, are “funny, honest,” Miller stresses. “And we present both sides of the issue,” including the importance of such stores to families on tight budgets. “You don’t have to hit people over the head with messages…. This isn’t heavy- handed propaganda. It’s provocative, smart theater for kids.”

— Lynne Heffley

Trapped in a sealed art gallery, with their air supply running low, a group of desperate strangers clashes, bonds and exchanges intimate confidences about the nature of art and the evanescence of life while waiting for rescue — or death.

The scene is from the Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group’s new production, “The Window.” Yes, you read right. Children’s theater group. “Barney on Ice” this is not.

Children’s theater is not just for children anymore. Increasingly, the genre has expanded into the realm of “youth theater,” issues-oriented fare geared to all ages, with a specific emphasis on adolescents.

“There’s no such thing as a youth painting,” says Corey Madden, producing director of P.L.A.Y., the youth theater program of the Center Theatre Group in downtown L.A. “You don’t show a child a shorter, easier-to-understand, educationally appropriate Picasso. ‘Youth’ does not mean ‘second class.’ ”

In Southern California, a select group of dedicated practitioners is helping to advance the transformation. At the 24th Street Theatre near USC, directors Jay McAdams and Deborah Devine recruit established adult performance artists of a distinctly avant-garde stripe for their youth-oriented Saturday Explorer Series. In Burbank, the master parodists in the Troubadour Theater Company don’t just offer naughty plays with an “adults-only” caveat but also gleefully gross family fare.

But perhaps the unlikeliest venue for a youth play is the Edge of the World Festival, an 18-day showcase for adventurous, sometimes controversial fare that starts tonight. Edgefest shows such as “Slut,” a comedy set in a brothel, are labeled off limits to kids for obvious reasons. However, Edgefest’s four-show Future Project, scheduled for Oct. 15, is designed to lure younger audiences, from elementary school age to older teens, into the theater.

“What has traditionally been presented as children’s theater does not appeal to a huge section of kids these days,” says Janis Hashe, the Future Project’s producer. “They’re far more sophisticated now. You can’t just drag out the bedraggled bunny suit anymore. You have to start thinking in a more progressive way.”

Just how do you hook a Nintendo-obsessed generation on the theater habit? It’s a question that increasingly preoccupies some of the edgier and more sophisticated theater artists in the country, including playwrights David Henry Hwang, Nilo Cruz and Jeffery Hatcher. And if unanswered, it may have lingering consequences.

“If we don’t reinvent the whole concept of theater for younger audiences, then theater is going to die,” Hashe says. “We need young blood coming into the theaters. Not that we don’t love the 75-year-olds. But when they move on to their reward, who is going to replace them in those seats?”

Apart from the troubling demographics, the bigger issue, Hashe and others say, is the role that the arts can play in young people’s lives.

“Theater develops lifelong learners,” says Peter C. Brosius, artistic director of the Children’s Theatre Company of Minneapolis. “In theater, you don’t just show up. Even if you’re simply an audience member, you’re harnessing your curiosity.”

An old colleague of Madden, Brosius got his stripes working for the Center Theatre Group’s Improvisational Theatre Project, the youth-oriented forerunner of the P.L.A.Y. series. In recent years, he has seen cities such as Dallas and Seattle devote resources to present professional children’s theater. He has seen his Minneapolis troupe win a regional theater Tony in 2003 — an unprecedented award for a youth theater troupe, a clear indication that children’s theater is finally coming of age. But Brosius also feels that American youth theater still has a long way to go.

“With a few exceptions, I just don’t think that the American theater is paying attention to young people,” Brosius says. “What really inspired me to get into the youth theater field was the incredible work I have seen in Europe over the years. In Berlin, I saw teens in black jackets lining up around the block to see a show. We in America have to create that same kind of enthusiasm for our young audiences.”

IN 2003, Edgefest established its Future Project program, an attempt to shift the idea of “children’s theater” from visions of adorable moppets jockeying for center stage in “Annie” or adults dressed as witches, princes and bears in a Brothers Grimm fairy tale.

This year, producer Hashe has cast her net wide, actively soliciting local theaters to present their ideas for new youth shows.

Of the four theaters represented, only one — the Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group — is specifically a youth theater. The other three — the MET, the Zoo District and the Towne Street Theatre — are all established theaters whose patron bases consist primarily of adults.

As such, most of the actors involved are adults rather than kids — a fact that Hashe says is an important step toward increasing the sophistication of youth theater.

“We at Edgefest feel that recruiting adult artists is a vital outreach,” Hashe says. “We’re not asking them to do ‘Peter Rabbit.’ We just ask them to think about what their theater does that reflects their artistic mandate but could also be appropriate for younger audiences.”

Geared to all ages, the Future Project shows are diverse in subject matter and tone. The MET’s “Amelia Learns to Fly” focuses on the life of Amelia Earhart, with an emphasis on the social pressures she faced as a woman in a pre-feminist society. Casting back a few thousand years, the Zoo District’s “The BoyKing” examines the life of King Tutankhamun, the Egyptian ruler who ascended to power at age 9. “Bad Bobbi Bolingo & the Dinosaur Cave,” the Towne Street offering, is an offbeat fantasy about a naughty little girl magically transported to a land of dinosaurs. And “The Window,” presented by the Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group, concerns tourists stranded in an art gallery who must make painful decisions concerning the relative values of art and human life.

L. Flint Esquerra, the writer-director of “Amelia” and artistic director of the MET since December 2004, felt drawn to Earhart after seeing her statue at the North Hollywood branch of the Los Angeles Public Library. He immediately envisioned Earhart’s story as a natural for a kids’ show but with a thought-provoking take on her as a feminist role model.

“The idea for the play had already been germinating for four or five years when I applied to the Future Project,” Esquerra says. “The primary thing that made the story compelling for me is that is has a really strong female role model. It’s amazing, the societal limitations that Amelia Earhart overcame through her own personal strength and courage.”

Under his tenure, Esquerra intends to open up the MET’s roster to shows that are appropriate for youth audiences. “We’ve done some kid-friendly shows at the MET in the past,” he says, “but I want to do more youth programming in the future. I don’t have kids myself, but I’ve always worked with kids…. Theater can have a very positive effect on young minds. I’ve seen that in my work.”

A classically trained dancer, Brian Fretté, the writer, director and choreographer of “BoyKing,” has also worked extensively with children, helming movement workshops for urban youngsters. Fretté became involved with the Zoo District eight years ago, primarily as a choreographer on such mature fare as the Faustian “The Master and Margarita” and the vampire tale “Nosferatu.”

Always fascinated with King Tut, Fretté was thrilled that his Future Project play would dovetail with the Tut exhibition at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Yet along with the obvious educational opportunities, he feels that the show will strike an emotional chord with young audiences.

“Basically, Tut’s father was killed when he was 9,” Fretté says. “So he had to become king when he had lost the great male role model of his life. I thought that might resonate with some of today’s children, who are also dealing with the loss of a father for various reasons, and who are trying to make the right decisions, develop judgment, and grow up to be strong men and women in fatherless households.

“How do you determine what’s right? Who’s going to show you? Tut was a king and he had a network of advisors around him. A lot of children in today’s society don’t have that kind of guidance and leadership.”

Writer-director Tony Robinson strikes a lighter note in “Bad Bobbi,” which Robinson originally wrote as a children’s book 18 years ago for his toddler son. A jovial man with his roots in stand-up comedy, Robinson describes his play as “The Wizard of Oz” meets “Jurassic Park” meets “The Bad Seed.”

“It’s a fantasy about a little bad girl named Bobbi who is swept away into a land ruled by dinosaurs,” Robinson says. “There’s a myriad of eccentric characters that she encounters, like Mel, an ‘In-Betweener’ who is a cross between human and animal, male and female. He’s just basically androgynous across the board.”

Whimsicality aside, Robinson makes no bones about his intended moral message. “The show’s didactic as hell,” he says. “It’s preachy. I think part of the problem with our society and our culture is that adults have abdicated their responsibility to preach at children.

“I deliberately geared ‘Bad Bobbi’ for elementary school kids, because I wanted to catch them at a formative stage, to teach them personal responsibility and consequences. The show’s a fantasy, but it’s very in-your-face with its morality. For me, it’s not so much about artistic expression. I’m just trying to keep a kid from shooting another kid in the head in 10 years.”

Screenwriter Broderick Miller, the writer-director of “The Window,” says he “slipped through the cracks” into the theater when his two daughters got involved with the Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group. After co-writing one of the theater’s shows, Broderick eventually took over the artistic leadership of the company in 2001. Over the last half-dozen years, it has garnered local renown for its intellectually challenging productions.

Although the plays are performed by minors, the troupe deals with thoroughly adult issues. “Buy America,” a recent original production, was a musical satire about the ravages of big warehouse stores on American communities. Phoebe Minette, Miller’s co-writer on that show, is a Marshall High School student who extols Miller’s influence on the group.

“Broderick likes to challenge us to do plays that are special for us,” Minette says. “We do original material that really has meaning in our lives.”

Among the troupe’s past productions are “Cheyenne,” a gender-bending musical western, and “Attack of the Killer Kids,” a comedic satire on the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

“Yes, we’re exploring themes and issues that are difficult, that are relevant to young people’s lives,” Miller says. “These kids have radar. They immediately know when they’re being condescended to. They’re still discovering themselves — how they relate to the world and how the world relates to them.

“I put on my Kevlar every year,” Miller adds, “because we get flak from parents who question whether their kids are mature enough to explore these issues. But I also get e-mails from parents who say that this experience has changed their children’s lives. The theater provides a friendship network, a camaraderie, that is life-changing. These kids have issues. Every single one of them, really. Personal conflict with parents, school, friends, peer pressure.

“I think by tackling these issues in a creative way, it helps relieve their bottled-up frustrations. If this experience has taught me anything, it’s that kids are so much smarter than we think they are.

— F. Kathleen Foley

Silverlake Children’s Theater Group bolsters its reputation for high quality with these provocative one-acts. Ivy Hammond and Broderick Miller’s The Rocke is a humorous swipe at the chicanery and deception running rampant in the current political climate, through the tale of three ideologically disparate high school clubs — the James Madison Society, the Christian Fellowship and Earth First — that engage in a cookie-selling contest, with the prize being the occupation of Lake Bean High School’s prestigious Rocke building. But the lofty ideals and commitments originally espoused by the students gradually yield to nasty competitiveness, ironically offset by a clamant gang of anarchists who attempt to disrupt the contest. The draw here isn’t so much the script, but funny, energetic and enjoyable performances by the young actors. A sobering change of tone propels Miller’s The Window. On tour at an upscale museum, a group of adults and high school students become trapped in the building when the power (and air supply) goes out, triggering ruminations about the meaning of life and death, love and art. The finale is shocking. Miller’s direction of both plays is splendid.

— Lovell Estell III

Hollywood may brim with pre-teen wannabe starlets yearning to land a generic role in a saccharine production. However, convened at a rehearsal space on Vermont you’ll find the Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group (SCTG), a decidedly non-cheesy, pabulum-free zone. This performance ensemble is an eclectic young group ranging from age 6 to 16, doing original musical productions that often bear politically leftist undertones. The parents, many bohemians by nature, comprise the production crew. Spearheaded by Artistic Director Broderick Miller, past plays have spanned the gamut from “Cheyenne,” a gender-bending Western musical, to “Attack of the Killer Kids,” a comedic parable on Bush’s Invasion of Iraq. Cleverly written plots penned by Miller are infused with satirical humor, anti-Bush statements and musical scores with songs by Nine Inch Nails and The Clash.

The Silverlake Children’s Theatre wasn’t always so hip. Formerly a nameless theater group within the Hollywood-Silverlake Jewish Community Center, in 2001 Miller volunteered to put on an original play. At a time when the Greater Los Angeles Jewish Community Centers was in danger of buckling under dire debt, Miller saw it as a way to keep the theatre group afloat…and spend more time with his daughter, Izzy. He was inspired to pen something sophisticated for young people after seeing a production of “Babes in Toyland.”

“I thought [Babes…] played at such a moronic, mushy level for kids,” Miller says. “I thought the whole thing was pandering and it was as if kids all thought at a 3-year-old level. And I thought ‘let’s do smart children’s theater,’ you know?”

After the initial success of his debut, “Stay Awake,” Miller was hooked, and seven productions later, the theater has grown tremendously, with a spring play for kids under 11 and a fall production for older actors.
The entourage of diverse youth, arriving to after-school rehearsals in everything from private-school uniforms to paint-splattered jeans and leather jackets, spout sophisticated, witty dialogue that any adult could enjoy. The plays, however, are not, as some may suspect, masked puppetry where the young actors are merely pantomiming the plays’ parables. Broderick writes plays that provoke discussion among its mostly leftist yet politically mixed ensemble.

“The plays have morals and the political messages are really important because young people aren’t that politically involved, but Broderick helps us bring that out and it makes us think,” says 16-year-old Phoebe Minette, one of the group’s veteran actors. “We do have Republicans, but no matter what our political views are, we still like each other.”

The SCTG’s fall production, “The Community Producers,” is lighter on the politics, more a reflection on their own theater group. A musical comedy centered on community theater volunteers who have had enough, they figure their way out is to produce something with an awful, philistine premise. What they conjure up is “The Passion of the Bush.” The score includes a witty twist on Adam Sandler’s “Chanukah Song,” where lesser-known Republicans are outed.

But there is something strikingly unique about the dedicated, tight-knit Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group that goes beyond its off-kilter storylines and satirical undertones. Part of the SCTG’s magic is how it fosters an egalitarian environment dead-set on strengthening the local community.

“My husband and I joke and say it should be called ‘self-esteem theater,’” muses Jane Goldberg, a parent on the publicity crew whose teenage son’s roles included that of a barroom floozy.

Miller tailors the story so each child has a time in the spotlight, intentionally straying from the ultra-competitive atmosphere other children’s theater groups sometimes propagate. The spring play, “Buy America,” an episodic parable with tongue-in-cheek humor, highlights the destruction that behemoth businesses can perpetrate in idyllic small towns.

In many ways, the SCTG is a microcosm for the artistically vibrant and socially conscious alcove of Silver Lake. Plans for the spring play include community outreach, complete with a cocktail party honoring local merchants, and a list of alternative businesses in the community to be distributed during the shows.
“There’s a very tireless group of parents, and a committed group of activists, but not every community is like this,” reflects Miller. “I think it’s incumbent on us to spread the word.”

— Jackie Lam

The Silverlake Children’s Theatre Group challenges children and teens with a contemporary repertoire. Since its 2001 founding, the group has presented productions with topics ranging from gender politics to greed, tolerance and the tyranny of the College Board.

“Our mission is to use the power of theater to develop critical thinking and self-confidence, as well as to engage the imagination,” said director Broderick Miller.

Miller is a screen-writer who offered to direct one play for free when the group was in its early stages. His interest in children’s theater was piqued after he took his young daughters to a bad performance of a children’s play at a major local venue. He felt it was condescending.

“I said to myself if i ever ran a children’s theater group i would do smart plays which would be written from their point of view. I don’t believe in pandering to kids,” he said.

The group now produces two plays in the spring in local theaters. One production for ages 7 and up; the second for kids up to 18.

This May the group will present two plays on alternating weekends at the Knightsbridge Theatre in Silver Lake. The younger kids will stage “Significant Others,” a comedy musical set at the G8 Summit written by actor-comedian Mark McCracken. The plot revolves around the wives of the delegates. Unhappy with the way their husbands are handling things, they take matters into their own hands.

The older actors will perform in a play called “The Rogues” written by Miller. The central figure is a girl who gets involved with a group of 70’s rockers who are planning a one-time reunion.

— Marilyn Oliver, Ledger Theater Critic

I’ve often heard the advice that an adult should read a children’s book once a year. I’d have to modify this advice by saying go see a children’s play once a year. Then I’d have to modify that advice and say go see a children’s theater group once a year.

Recently, I had the pleasure of stumbling onto a Silver Lake Children’s Theatre Group performance at Inner-City Art’s Rosenthal Theater in Los Angeles. The Midnight Gallery, Four Mini Plays of Suspense in Repertoire is directed by Broderick Miller, an Emmy Award-winning screenwriter, who has a very reasonable approach to the role he plays in the theatre group: let the kids decide what to write about and (for the most part) how to interpret the material.

Four plays tied together with a Rod Serling, Twilight Zone character bookending as a vehicle to tie in social commentary, this is children’s theatre created by children and teens. Under the tutelage of their director, young actors create the content they wish to explore and ultimately stretch and grow their talent as well as learn something about the human condition. Each year, Miller works with the actors to help them find their voice. From the start, he asks what they want to write about and they caucus regularly to understand the issues and determine the best content and approach to take.

The particular play I saw, Aloha, Kiana, co-written by 11-year old Nicki Klar, discussed marriage, the possibility of parents separating, how we connect to our romantic partners, and most importantly how to be honest with ourselves and others, all through the eyes of teens. It was poignant and funny. I was drawn in. Every minute. Aloha, Kiana reminded me of principals that can take our lives into highest echelons of happiness or weaknesses that can bury us in human misery.

If the reason behind reading a children’s book is to simplify the prose and chatter and remind us of lessons learned, with the Silver Lake Children’s Theatre Group, watching young actors play adults reminded this adult that not only do adults crave honesty but kids do too. It is essential to our collective human success story.

The best way to sum up the effort was done so by Broderick Miller himself

“As we like to say around here: ‘The Silver Lake Children’s Theatre Group – we ain’t doing Rapunzel.'”

— Leslie Hendry