Child S Play

"Our goal is to deal with fear, not encourage it," says Peter Brosius, director of the Mark Taper Forum's Improvisational Theatre Project. "It's a ridiculous fiction that kids aren't concerned. Kids know what's going on. To pretend they don't is insane." The company's new children's production, "One Thousand Cranes," confronts nuclear war anxiety.

Robert Marasco's "Child's Play," revived at the Coast Playhouse, is one of the most conservative plays ever produced in the environs of West Hollywood. It's the sort of play that Christopher Durang's Sister Mary Ignatius might have written, or at least applauded. The implications of "Child's Play" cannot be discussed in any detail in a review. It's a thriller, and we can't give away the ending.

As the game clock ticked down to the last few seconds, a 9-year-old member of the La Habra Pee-Wee Raiders zigzagged across the football field, trying to score the winning touchdown. Parents cheered as the little boy dodged several tacklers and scampered into the end zone. Minutes later, referee Robert Sims and another official headed for the snack bar, but they were quickly thrown for a loss.

Before the credits are over for "Child's Play 2" (citywide) Chucky's back, just like the ads promise. Could there be any doubt that the most malevolent doll of them all would return, considering the box-office success of his first engagement? But his act is one that doesn't bear repeating.

United Artists' decision not to involve itself in the distribution of the sequel to the murderous horror film "Child's Play" was welcome news ("New UA Team Won't Touch 'Child's Play II,' " by Michael Cieply, Aug. 21). Finally, somebody chooses ethical standards over that lowest of common denominators: money. What was not welcome news was the film industry's reaction. After UA's decision--described as "insane" by a competing studio chief--other industry giants, including Disney, leaped at the opportunity to gain control of such a money-making product.

It was "dress-up" time at the preschool, and Kevonte immediately grabbed the cop uniform. He snatched the oversized blue jacket with the big silver star from the cupboard and pulled it over his 4-year-old body. Then he put on the officer's cap. Every day he does this. Inspects himself in the mirror. Strides proudly around the classroom. "He loves to dress up like a policeman," says the teacher, Glenda Perrou. Why? "He loves guns. His mom's worried," the teacher replies.

It's not a fairy tale or funny stuff. "I Can't Talk About It," a children's play for adults too, at the Adam Hill Theatre in West Hollywood, is about sexual child abuse. Based on the book by Doris Sanford and Graci Evans, the play revolves around a young incest victim who finds the courage to tell what's happening to her and let go of her feelings of shame and guilt. The setting is simple--a child's bedroom, an imaginary beach.

This is the premiere of A-Plus, a weekly View feature that will spotlight outstanding teachers, innovative programs and exemplary accomplishments in Orange County public schools. Please send names and phone numbers of people you would like to see profiled here to A-Plus, Times Orange County View, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, Calif. 92626. Sitting at the piano, Cathy Wietstock glances around the room, sizing up her audience. Most people are clustered in small groups, chattering.

After he gets chemotherapy, David Brocoff, 13, is usually very sick. "Usually the medicine helps," he said, but the nausea and the pain start again "about two hours after I get it." David usually receives the treatment in his room when he is asleep, he said, but "it feels better when you're awake, having someone to talk to." That someone is often Carolyn Spungin, director of the Child Life program at UCI Medical Center.