THEY'RE ONLY HUMAN TWO YOUNG ACTRESSES TAKE THE STAGE TO EXPLORE HIGH-SCHOOL HEARTBREAK.

Byline: Evan Henerson Theater Writer

Ah, those bygone high-school days ... recalled by actresses Anna Faris and Amy Smart with about as much fondness as the memory of a trip to the dentist.

``I was definitely very angry when I was in high school,'' says the Seattle-raised Faris, who starred in both of the Wayans brothers' ``Scary Movie'' films. ``I was very resentful of the social cliques, and I had very little respect for my teachers. It was like four wasted years, and I was very upset at the limited freedom. We weren't able to leave campus and little things like that, but they meant everything then.''

Smart, a Topanga Canyon native, doesn't think back on her years at Palisades High School with much greater nostalgia, but at least she wasn't caged: ``I was really independent as soon as I got my car. I was in and out,'' she says.

That's not to say that high school was actually all that long ago for the pair.

``I went to the prom and felt the need to have all the experiences,'' continued Smart, the star of such films as ``Road Trip'' and ``Rat Race,'' ``but my school really lacked school spirit. For me, it was all about my friends and the cliques and having your heart broken and the angst of peer pressure.''

Now, thanks to a strong script, a flexible rehearsal schedule and the resourcefulness of an enterprising actress/producer, Faris and Smart are going back to school. The two actresses, both 25, will play high schoolers in Timothy Mason's play ``The Less Than Human Club,'' which opened last weekend at the McCadden Place Theater in Hollywood. Like their fellow performers - several of whom also have burgeoning film and music careers - Faris and Smart's paycheck for a three-week run at a sub-99-seat theater is essentially zilch.

And nobody is complaining. As producer/co-star Veronique Vicari says, ``None of these actors needs to showcase.''

Paying dues

Faris last worked on stage nearly seven years ago at the Seattle Repertory Theatre. Except for a recent performance piece at the Ivar Theater in Hollywood, Smart has never performed before a live audience.

``I started off in acting classes and went straight to TV and film, so I sort of skipped the stage of doing the theater,'' says Smart, sitting with Faris in a booth on the McCadden's stage. ``I think it's the best training ground for an actor, deepening yourself and really growing and learning. It was a goal that I set for myself. I wanted to do a play sometime this year, and the sooner the better.''

Set in the late 1960s, ``The Less Than Human Club'' is a semi-autobiographical look back at 17-year old Davis Daniels' junior year in suburban Nathan Hale High School. Mason touches on issues of homosexuality, interracial romance and the war in Vietnam. None of his eight characters is over 18.

In a kind of role reversal, both Faris and Smart get to play against type. Faris, last seen submitting to all kinds of ribald indignities at the hands of the Wayans brothers, gets to play the serious and frustrated-in-love Amanda. Smart, who often plays brains or beauties, takes on Kirsten, a semi-clueless wallflower.

``And she's really funny,'' says Faris.

Behind the scenes

The theater is tucked away adjacent to a residential neighborhood near the intersection of Highland Avenue and Santa Monica Boulevard. Faris' blond hair is, once again, dyed jet-black, and her grunge wardrobe seems to be a cast requirement. Smart is also casual, in a long-sleeve shirt and pants. In the production's publicity photo, she's all but unrecognizable behind nerdy glasses and a white sweater.

The production's architect is Vicari, a Sherman Oaks native who recently started trying to beef up her own theater credits. She began by playing Juliet in an amateur production of ``Romeo and Juliet'' in the summer of 2000 at the Whitmore Lindley Theater in NoHo.

The experience was a bit of a fiasco, but Vicari stood out, attracting the attention of, among others, Conway Recording Studios owner Buddy Brundo. After seeing Vicari's performance, and learning that ``Romeo and Juliet'' cost around $5,000 to stage, Brundo suggested Vicari put together a project of her own.

``I went home and thought about it,'' recalled Vicari. ``I know all these amazing actors, and I've done all these wonderful things on TV. I thought, 'You know what, I'm going to do this.' ''

Her choice was ``The Less Than Human Club,'' a play that Vicari had fallen in love with while at the University of Utah three years ago. The play has had one professional staging, at the Young Conservatory of the American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco in 1994.

Faris and Smart were both mutual friends of Vicari's. All three actresses - as well as Faris' boyfriend, actor Ben Indra - had worked with acting coach Taylor Sheridan, who was brought aboard to direct. Filling out the cast are Brandon Williams, Ian Bohen, Maritza Murray, Catero Colbert and Greg Cipes.

Sheridan structured the rehearsal period to allow his cast members to work around their more lucrative projects. Colbert is recording an album with Quincy Jones. After the play's opening weekend, Faris will go to the Sundance Film Festival to help publicize the dark comedy ``May,'' in which she co-stars. Smart recently completed the film ``After School Special'' in Vancouver. Even understudies like Rachel Wilson and Esteban Powell have multiple film and TV credits to their name.

``That's the response I got,'' says Sheridan. ``Rachel was being approached about projects, and yet she was willing to understudy the role, put in just as much rehearsal time as Anna to perform once a week and when Anna is gone. I was really amazed that young actors of this caliber were so willing to do this for no money.''

``Every actor wants to do theater, or most of the ones I've come across do, but it just seems there's nowhere to do it with that kind of freedom,'' Sheridan continued. ``And I couldn't ask Amy or Anna to turn down whatever their quote is now on a feature film.''

Neither Faris nor Smart has a project scheduled beyond this, and both expect ``The Less Than Human Club'' to extend or move to a larger house.

``I'd love to bring it to a 200- or 300-seat theater,'' says Smart. ``People who grew up in the '60s are going to totally relate to the different characters. Also, it's really universal, even for the the kids of our generation. It's always the same similar stories throughout the ages. I really think people will enjoy this a lot.''

``THE LESS THAN HUMAN CLUB''

Where: McCadden Place Theater, 1157 McCadden Place, Hollywood.

When: 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, 2 and 8 p.m. Sunday; through Feb 3.

Tickets: $20. Call [phone].

CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1) Anna Faris, left, and Amy Smart, known for their movies, star in a three-week run of ``The Less Than Human Club'' at McCadden Place Theater.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer

(2) Composing the ``Club'' cast, clockwise from top left: Catero, Maritza Murray, Anna Faris, Greg Cipes, Veronique Vicari, Amy Smart and Branden Williams.