November 4, 2007

Inland students to tread Scottish boards

By PENNY E. SCHWARTZ
Special to The Press-Enterprise

The Yucaipa High School Theatre Department has been selected to perform at next summer's Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland.

A troupe of students will give four performances of Lee Blessing's "Two Rooms" during the two-week American High School Theatre Festival that is part of Scotland's premier theater event.

"This is quite an honor for us," said Linda deBaun, artistic director of the Yucaipa High School Theatre Department.

The school is one of only four in California and about 50 in the nation selected for this recognition, she said.

Unbeknown to deBaun, a friend at a Covina-area high school nominated Yucaipa to perform at the 2008 Fringe Festival. The school was invited to submit a portfolio of clippings, recommendations and documentation of awards, community involvement and other supporting credentials for the selection process.

The high school festival runs in conjunction with the world's largest performing arts festival, founded in 1947. The Fringe Festival brings together about 1,000 performance troupes from around the world and runs for three weeks each August.

Once chosen, a high school can select any play it wants to perform at the festival, deBaun said.

"We wanted something challenging, and 'Two Rooms' has a serious message," she said.

The play deals with a 1980s hostage crisis and has four main characters.

"We had to get permission from the playwright to trim the play a bit,' said deBaun.

She said she hopes Blessing would be able to attend the high school festival, set for Aug. 4-17. Several students are creating monologues that will augment the play's message.

"We at the school district are thrilled that our students have been so honored," said Sue Gott, director of assessment technology and former director of public relations and grant writing for the Yucaipa-Calimesa Joint Unified School District. "This is an exciting opportunity for them."

DeBaun has headed the Yucaipa High School Theatre Department for 28 years. Her students have won numerous awards and regularly perform for the California Educational Theatre Association, the California Youth in Theatre Day and the California State Thespian Festival.

Each school year, the department usually presents a fall play, a murder mystery dinner theater production and a spring musical.

This fall's production is Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night," which will be offered at 7 p.m. Dec. 5-8 at Yucaipa High School. In the spring, the school will participate in Shakespeare festivals in Palm Desert and Pomona.

In the last couple of years, deBaun, 61, has served as an assistant director for the Redlands Shakespeare Festival at the Redlands Bowl and intends to continue that work.

In the 1980s, she was involved with the Redlands Theatre Festival in Prospect Park and has directed productions for the local Heartland Players.

A California native, deBaun earned bachelor's and master's degrees in English and theater at Pitzer College, Cal State Fullerton and Claremont Graduate School.

She has taught English as well as theater classes and devoted time to writing music during four years in Tennessee. She landed her current job when she returned in 1980.

Although she studied piano, art and dance in high school, deBaun never acted until recently, when she began taking small roles in several local productions.

"I perform as a teacher," deBaun said. "Another persona of mine comes out in the classroom."

Along with rehearsing her students for their upcoming productions, deBaun is involved in fundraising to help them pay for next summer's trip to the Fringe Festival.

"I recently returned from a familiarization tour in Edinburgh and was warmly received," she said. "I can't wait to have my students share this wonderful experience."

The trip to the festival is consistent with deBaun's philosophy as a teacher, said Redlands Shakespeare Festival dramaturge Heidi Wilson.

"Her mission is to catalyze her students to be as professional as possible," Wilson said. "Yucaipa's recent productions have been impressive, despite the fact that the school is without the bells and whistles and physical advantages that other schools have."

DeBaun's students perform in a multipurpose room because the school does not have a theater or auditorium.

"I have had the opportunity to work with Linda's students at Yucaipa High School," said Steven Sabel, founding artistic director of the Redlands Shakespeare Festival. "She has a keen ability to share the text and the characters with her students that helps them to relate to the material in a living and vibrant way."

Students who will travel to the Fringe Festival are Magen Reeves, Shea Meagher-Cannis, Carissa Rawson and Quira Perez, along with Yucaipa High School choral director Drew Pulver.

Cost of the trip will be about $5,600 per student. Donations of goods, services and cash are being sought to help defray expenses. Donors as well as those who know of grant opportunities can e-mail deBaun at linda_debaun@ycjusd.k12.ca .us or call 909-797-0106.