Building A Mosaic

Rick Sperling
is building
Mosaic Youth
Theatre into
across-cultural
force.

SUZANNE CHESSLER

Special to The Jewish News

ick Sperling has two mysteries on
his hands, and he is counting on
teen-age dramatists to help solve
them.
The first, and most immediate,
has to do with a fictional high-
school student (Johnny Maze)
who is found dead after becoming
involved with drugs. Can a group
of teen-age writers come up with
a plausible suspect by February?
The second mystery will be
around for a while because it has
to do with the survival of the Mo-
saic Youth Theatre of Detroit,
which is sponsoring the dramat-
ic exercise. Can teen-agers, guid-
ed by a few adults, successfully
continue to write, produce and
perform plays such as the who-
dunit Who Killed Johnny Maze?
they are tackling now?

PHOTO BY JAMES A. STEEL

Rick Sperling
works with
teens.

schools in March and April and
then perform in professional the-
aters in June and July," explained
Mr. Sperling. He believes exten-
sive training and rehearsals for
the 40-member ensemble assure
quality productions.
"We wanted to be an indepen-
dent company so that we could fo-
cus totally on the kids, and we
wanted every dollar we raised to
benefit them.
"We also wanted to create a
the Attic Theatre, where he was company where the kids were re-
director of the Education and Out- sponsible for more than just the
reach Ensemble that brought pro- acting. We wanted them to work
fessional stage experiences into on all elements of production,
from the technical jobs to the pub-
schools.
"We conduct auditions every licity."
Mr. Sperling — an actor, di-
September, complete writing one
play by February when we do a rector and instructor with pro-
preview performance, tour the fessional ties to Michigan and

Mr. Sperling, Mosaic artistic
director and founder who both in-
structs and collaborates with his
troupe, came up with the idea for
the young people's theater three
years ago. It was a spinoff from

The teens handle
all aspects.

Ohio —pushed for the Mosaic af-
ter coordinating the Attic musi-
cal Runaways, which featured a
teen-age, multi-cultural cast. Spo-
radic performances scheduled
when the Attic was not booked for
other productions led to a well-re-
ceived, five-week run.
"We thought at that point that
there was real potential for this
kind of theater company, and we
set ourselves up as a non-profit
and got rehearsal space," said Mr.
Sperling, whose payment to cast
and crew, all in middle or high
school, is artistic training.
Besides planning workshops
conducted by professionals, he in-
vites celebrities appearing in the
area to instruct his students.

MOSAIC page 82