SETTING THE SCENE KIDS GO INTO THEATRICS AT A.V. CAMP.

Byline: Peggy Hager Staff Writer

LANCASTER - The sounds of hammering and the shriek of screws being driven into wood overpowered the muffled sound of children rehearsing in the next room as the Lancaster Performing Art Center's first theater camp prepared for its July 28 show.

Twenty-one students in grades seven to 12 have enrolled in the two-week camp, which started Monday and runs through July 27.

``This is something we've wanted to do for a very long time,'' said Mary Tanner, manager of the performing arts center. ``We wanted to offer some fairly intensive programming. We wanted kids to work as a team, to give kids an idea of what professional theater is really like.''

Although the campers have just two weeks to prepare for their two shows, director Perry Self said it will be plenty of time.

``For a one-act play this is perfect,'' he said.

Self has plenty of experience with students, teaching drama at Rosamond High School and acting at Antelope Valley College.

The play is called ``Competition Piece,'' by John S. Wells. In the play, rich kids, gothic kids and artsy kids from three different schools are competing to see whose play is the best.

In the mornings, Tanner, Self and Rodney Stickrod, technical director at the arts center, teach classes in lighting, scenic design, stage management, technical direction, acting technics and costuming.

The afternoons are for rehearsal, set construction and costume making.

Wednesday afternoon found students in Lancaster's Black Box Theatre rehearsing for their parts in ``Competition Piece,'' the one-act play they will be performing at the conclusion of camp.

Using black metal chairs to mark set pieces, Self went over the stage directions - stage left, stage right, center stage. The children flipped through their scripts as they hopped from one scene to the next.

Just around the corner from rehearsal, Tanner worked with her students, five girls who leaned to place trusses on a seven-foot-high platform. She took her time, showing the girls how to hammer without splitting the wood.

``Lean over. Put your body weight over it so it (the drill) does the work,'' Tanner said. ``Push harder on the thing. Great. You got it. You guys are good.

``Girls are excellent carpenters. They have the patience to hang with it and do it,'' Tanner said.

Outside behind the theater, more students worked on a different part of the set, making cubes for the actors to stand on during the performance. Using circular saws, the youngsters took turns cutting boards to the correct lengths, overseen by Stickrod.

``It's good, it's a good experience,'' said Laura Sardisco, 15, of Palmdale. ``I just have a thing for building stuff.''

Thirteen-year-old Stuart Olvin from Quartz Hill agreed. ``It's been fun. We're doing some great things. The best thing we've done is probably the wood cutting.'' Olvin said he came to camp mainly to learn the technical side of theater.

Lancaster resident Alexis Chester, 17, said she will use the experience on her resume.

``I'm trying to get as much experience as I can,'' Chester said. ``I enjoyed the technical side, it's fun. It'd be good to have under your belt if the whole acting thing fell through.''

``They're awesome,'' said Stickrod, who has done programs like this all over the country. ``They're doing really good. A lot of them have a little experience, some of them have worked with their dads building things. They're all willing to learn, they pretty much try anything.

Once the campers have completed their two weeks of work, they will show what they have learned in performances at 1 and 4 p.m. July 28 in the Black Box.

Assisting the three teachers are two interns, local women who are majoring in theater in college. Amy Wright from Boston University is designing the costumes for the production and teaching costuming, through a grant from the Los Angeles Arts Council. The other intern is Marianne Gray from California State University, Northridge, who is stage managing the performance.

Tanner intends the camp to be offered annually.

``If we're able to, we'd like to extend it to K-sixth grades,'' said Tanner. ``Two weeks is not a long time, but I think it gives them a taste.''

Tickets are $5 and can be ordered by calling the box office at [phone].

CAPTION(S):

4 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color in AV edition only) Amictha Harichardran, 14; Heather Kaplan, 12; and Natali Truax, 11, all of Lancaster, act out roles in ``Competition Piece.''

(2 -- color in AV edition only) Theresa Frassrand, 14, of Acton gets into her part at the Lancaster Performing Art Center's first theater camp.

(3) Bridie Beeson, 16, center, helps Philip Beach, 15. Technical Director Rodney Stickrod watches at right in the background.

(4 -- ran in AV edition only) Amy Wright, 19, standing, a summer intern from Boston University, reads a part during the theater camp program as students react. Wright is designing the costumes for the production and teaching costuming, through a grant from the Los Angeles Arts Council.

Jeff Goldwater/Staff Photographer