Children in poverty come out of hiding.

Byline: Mark Baker The Register-Guard

David Craig says he has never been to Eugene, "but I'm sending five fine Canadians there to entertain your kids."

Craig, the artistic director at the Roseneath Theatre in Toronto, is the author of "Danny, King of the Basement," a play aimed at young audiences with a theme that might, at first perusal, seem an odd one to be entertained by.

It's a story about a 10-year-old boy, Danny, living on the precipice of homelessness. He and his mother are just settling into a basement apartment, his eighth move in two years, on a gentrified Toronto street.

The play generally has been received positively in Canada and elsewhere. The Toronto Star said this when it debuted in 2001: "It's entertaining, speaking to kids in a language they understand with images they recognize and humor they can relate to."

The idea for the play came when Craig heard a news report on his car radio in 1999 that said 25 percent of all homeless Canadians were 12 or younger.

"I almost drove off the road," he says. But what could he, a playwright, do about it?

Well, write a play, of course.

"I'm trying to include, and bring into our consciousness, the reality of childhood poverty in North America," Craig says. "I don't think having kids in poverty is a good idea.

`I don't know how to solve that, I just wrote the play."

It's a play that shows us that Danny has pretty extraordinary coping skills for a 10-year-old, Craig says.

Danny befriends both pam- pered Penelope - who lives upstairs, has $300 cornrows and takes taxis to her ballet lessons - and Angelo, who lives next door with an unemployed father, is given to moments of rage and has a mother who works two jobs to support her family.

Meanwhile, Danny and his "mum," Louise, try to decide what sort of food to spend their last $7 on.

Danny makes friends "breathtakingly fast," Craig says. But he's also hiding a secret; one that causes him to run away and discover homelessness on his own.

Craig blames Toronto's homeless problem partly on government neglect. In January 2005, the play was performed on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, the nation's capital, in the hope that many lawmakers would attend.

"Our policy makers largely did not come," Craig says. "I'm not sure the play can change policy, but I think it can change opinions."

Reach Mark Baker at 338-2374 or [e-mail].

THEATER PREVIEW Danny, King of the Basement What: Award-winning play about 10-year-old boy living in poverty with his mother in Toronto Where: Soreng Theatre, Seventh Avenue and Willamette Street When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday Tickets: $12 all ages; 682-5000