Comedy and tears at Alta Vista show Comedy and tears at Alta Vista show (April 30, 2004)

School offers first-ever production featuring stories about AIDS

By Julie O'Shea

Alta Vista High School has finally hit Broadway -- more or less.

The continuation high school is set to open its first-ever full-fledged play and variety show next week, and the wildly excited student cast is promising an evening dripping with original work, humor and, yes, even some singing, with Principal Bill Pierce in the lead.

This, however, is hardly a comedy. While students say they hope their audience will laugh, they are also hoping the show will produce a few tears as well.

But with the theme of the evening surrounding AIDS, a few tears probably won't be that hard to muster.

Alta Vista's AIDS Awareness Showcase will take place May 4, 5 and 6 at the Mountain View High School theater. The production will be performed for Alta Vista and Mountain View High students on May 4 and 5. The general public can see the performance on May 5, starting at 7 p.m.

The Bryant Avenue school doesn't have its own theater, although plans for its new campus include one, and school officials hope this will be the first of many plays to come.

Sitting around a picnic table during a class break on Monday, cast members said they want to break down the stereotypes of AIDS, that this isn't a "gay disease," that it can hit anyone at any time. Above all, students said, they want to educate people.

"They don't know the facts," said Damien Foord, who plays a Congressman, a doctor and a 5-year-old child in next week's showcase.

"Some people are thinking (AIDS is) dying out," Foord said.

But it's not, and "the truth hurts," added Patty Huerta, another actor.

At the heart of the Alta Vista production is "The AIDS Show," a short play by Robert Epstein and Peter Adair that explores the heart-wrenching societal impacts of this devastating disease. In one scene, a man talks about scattering the ashes of his best friend, an AIDS victim. In another, a mother talks about watching her gay son succumb to the disease.

"I am hoping that it touches them in some way," said Misti Kotter, who will be reciting a yet-finished poem about losing someone to AIDS. "I just get mad that people think this is a gay disease."

Students in Jodi Disario's theater class read "The AIDS Show" in early January. They liked it so much that they asked their teacher if they could bring the play to the stage.

"The kids got really into this play," Disario said. "This kind of brought it all home."

In addition to the play, students also watched several AIDS documentaries at the beginning of the year, including "And the Band Played On," a 1993 movie about the AIDS outbreak with Matthew Modine, Phil Collins and Anjelica Huston.

"That was intense," said Celestine Lara, another student actor, who has had someone close to her die of the disease.

Casey Blackketter will recite a monologue about a gay man who has lost his lover to AIDS. Asked if he is able to give his speech without tears in his eyes, Blackketter shakes his head; he doesn't cry, he said.

"No, but I do," his teacher said quietly.

While the showcase is built around "The AIDS Show," the production will also feature student-written monologues, poems and a rap. Also on display will be four panels of the Names Project, a mammoth quilt (now believed to be the size of the state of Texas), dedicated to AIDS victims.

Although admission to the show is free, students are asking for a $5 donation at the door to be given to the Names Project.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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