Gem Theatre to Present 3 Plays by Students

“Runner’s High,” written by a 1988 graduate of Esperanza High School in Anaheim, is among three plays to be presented Sunday at the Gem Theatre in Garden Grove as part of the California Youth Playwrights Project.

The San Diego-based project conducts workshops in writing plays for students in grades seven through 12, and also sponsors an annual contest for young playwrights. Entries are judged by theater professionals, and the winning plays are produced at the Gaslamp Quarter Theatre in San Diego.

The 1988 winners are “Runner’s High” by Michele L. Mitchell, now a freshman journalism student at Northwestern University; “Searching for the Big Dipper” by Beckie Andersen of San Diego, and Lisa Kirazian’s “Not What the Doctor Ordered.” Kirazian wrote the play while a high school student in San Diego, but she is now a student at Stanford University.

The three plays were produced Jan. 11 through 29 at the Gaslamp. They will be produced at the Gem at 3 and 7 p.m. Sunday. The performances mark the Grove Theatre Company’s first involvement with the 4-year-old California Young Playwrights Project.

The Grove extended the use of the Gem “with the idea of maybe doing some of the productions ourselves,” said Thomas F. Bradac, producing artistic director for the theater company. The Grove is planning to start a youth theater company next fall, and Bradac said the company would like to produce a work by a young Orange County playwright.

One reason the Gem is involved this year is that one of the playwrights is local. In “Runner’s High,” five high-school runners explore their personal goals as they approach a big meet. Mitchell, a competitive runner herself, wrote the play while a student at Esperanza.

Orange County schools, Bradac said, participate heavily in the project.

“Searching for the Big Dipper,” “Runner’s High” and “Not What the Doctor Ordered” will be performed Sunday at 3 and 7 p.m. at the Gem Theatre, 12852 Main St. in Garden Grove. Tickets are $8 (general) and $6 (students and seniors). Information: (714) 636-7213. The deadline for the 1989 California Youth Playwrights Project competition is May 1. For information on the contest and on play-writing workshops, call (619) 232-9608.