By Daily Press staff
Television professionals recently provided at-risk high school students with a glimpse into the thespian world.
Last Friday, 17 inner-city students of LA’s Venice High School concluded “The Word First,” a literacy and writing program sponsored by the Writers Guild Foundation, with a performance of their newly composed one-act play before a packed Venice High auditorium.
The performance in front of 700 students, family members and faculty culminated the two-week program instructed by veteran television writer/director/producer Tom Greene from Magnum, P.I. and Knight Rider.
“The Word First,” developed by Greene and targeted to at-risk children, is an upclose examination and workshop of the written word and how it evolves into visual imagery. Utilizing that relationship with film and television, Greene guided the specially selected students as they tapped their own imaginations to collaboratively create a short and dramatic, visually active story in the form of a written script.
“This was one of the best sessions I’ve ever seen in the 10 years I’ve been conducting this program,” Greene said. “The enthusiasm and creativity that emerged from these students after such an initial reticence is really a phenomenal and inspiring thing to see.”
School faculty members were equally pleased with the results. “This program gave the students a glimpse of what can be done with collective and individual imagination — a gift many of them have not envisioned before and others not for too long a time,” said Jane Koehler, Venice High’s literacy coach.
The finished one-act screenplay was performed by film/television actors Alex Raben (Up to the Roof), and Kimberly Huie (C.S.I., Philly). Titled “The Naked Truth,” the 22-page script was about the accidental reunion of two best friends from high school who have lost touch with each other. Courtney, played by Huie, is a dancer in a strip club, where Isabella, played by Raben, happens to see her perform. As the two revisit their long ago friendship they discover painful truths about themselves back in their prep days as well as the present.
The program is conducted at varying host schools in the Los Angeles area, and takes students through their favorite scenes of movies and television shows, working backward, studying the words needed to put those scenes together. The students delve deeper into the composition of the scenes, discovering the words’ use and value, while also taking on a one-book reading assignment during the same period.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on December 18, 2003. Read the original PDF.