New youth play gets the ‘Lock Down’ at SCR

Young Chang

It’s the “Breakfast Club” of this generation, only bigger.

Instead of six high schoolers forced to spend a day together, in “Lock

Down” there are 15. They’re all self-indulgent, each in their timelessly

adolescent way, yet each more tender deep down than the images they first

present.

Vince is a computer geek played by Costa Mesa resident Carlos Ibarra.

Al is a computer hacker played by Corona del Mar’s Al Schulnick.

Squid is the delinquent and played by Evan Hirsch of Newport Beach.

Rosie is the precocious New York girl, played by Costa Mesa’s Hania

Houssein.

These Newport-Mesans and 11 other teens from South Coast Repertory’s

Young Conservatory Players program will bring Julia Edward’s play to life

on the Second Stage today and Sunday.

It’s an ensemble piece with no principal characters, and the tight

space the actors share at SCR’s Second Stage helps give off a

claustrophobic feel.

“It’s a great experience for the kids to work in that kind of space,”

said Sheila Hillinger, director of the Young Conservatory and the show,

which receives its world premiere. “It’s very intimate with the

audience.”

The story, commissioned by SCR, takes place at the Hershey High School

library. A group of various types of students -- we have the nihilist in

black and the happy surfer too -- get trapped after a school emergency

locks all exit routes automatically. They’re forced, through the course

of the show, to make connections.

Ibarra, 17, said working as an ensemble takes away some of the

pressure.

“It works out well because there’s not that rivalry and tension that

exists in other [works],” he said.

Hania, 16, said it’s nice to know everyone’s “sharing” the spotlight

-- something that’s almost inevitable when 15 actors are on stage at all

times.

“The challenge is helping each actor to flesh out and find the heart

and soul of the character,” Hillinger said. “And how we move them so the

ones that need to be seen get seen and the audience gets to see who’s the

focus.”

The director added that Edwards, a new playwright, met with the teen

actors last September to make their input part of the creative process.

What she came up with was an honest slice of life.

“And the characters are around our age so we can relate to them,” said

Ibarra.

FYI

* WHAT: “Lock Down”

WHEN: 4 and 7 p.m. today and 1 and 4 p.m. Sunday

WHERE: South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage, 655 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

COST: $5

CALL: (714) 708-5500