EVERYDAY HEROES, Kennedy Center "Imagination Celebration" production. Continues through Wednesday, March 6, 3:30 and 7 p.m., in the Jeanne Wagner Theatre, Rose Wagner Center for the Performing Arts, 138 W. Broadway. Tickets through ArtTix, 355-2787. Running time: One hour, 30 minutes (no intermission).
Win is 16 years old and an honor student. His mom is an alcoholic, and no one knows where his dad is. So Win is pretty much raising himself, with the help and protection of his 18-year-old brother, Kurt.
Life is not easy, but the boys are holding things together — until their house catches fire. This puts their mom in the hospital in intensive care, and Win is dubbed a hero by the local television newscasters.
There's only one problem: Win and Kurt are lying about what happened on the night of the fire.
Laurie Brooks was commissioned to write a play for and about adolescents to run during Salt Lake's first Imagination Celebration, in conjunction with the Olympics. The celebration and the play, "Everyday Heroes," were financed by SLOC and local donors.
The play is produced by David Dynak, head of the theater department at the University of Utah, and directed by Margo Andrews, with university acting students performing.
Teens in the audience at the opening performance seemed to enjoy the play quite thoroughly.
Chris Johnston is lovely in the role of Win. He looks young enough for the part and is sensitive and hesitant at all the right times. Tyler Johnson is also well-cast as his older brother, as is Cheryl Nichols as his girlfriend, Shawna.
The two brothers fight and make up with great verve and realism. As for Nichols, hers is probably the most difficult role, because Shawna lives part-time in a fantasy world. Nichols manages to make her seem fey rather than certifiable.
Shana Wiersum plays Joanna Judson, the firefighter who keeps asking Win the hard questions. She is the one admirable adult in the play. Eric McGraw and Shannon Hollinger do a nice job with the roles of insensitive, predictable and somewhat dim-witted newscasters. The staging of the newscasts is interesting, although not polished enough to be entirely successful.
On the opening afternoon, Laurie Brooks was on hand to answer audience questions and to ask some herself. She provided a thought-provoking ending to a performance of a play that is as appealing to adults as it is to teens.
Her questions included: "Is family loyalty more important than telling the truth?" "When something is on television, will it always be accepted as truth, whether it is true or not?" "Do we trust other people's opinions of ourselves more than we trust our own?" "Was it Win and Kurt's responsibility to take care of their mother?"
Sensitivity rating: Subject matter is probably too intense for children under 13. Some swearing.
E-mail: susan@desnews.com