Staging a Drama of Understanding : Stereotypes vanish in theater group that pairs professionals with inner-city youths. : Hearts of the City / Exploring attitudes and issues behind the news

The way Osmany Butte sees it, if actor Sean Murphy had seen him on the street, “he probably would have thought that I was going to jack him--take his money or something. And I would have thought that he’s a corny white guy.”

But Butte, 17, did not meet Murphy, 24, on the street. They met at Voices in Harmony, a theater group that pairs teenagers and theater professionals in one-to-one collaborations.

After working together on a performance piece, Butte has concluded that Murphy is “really cool,” and the actor has formed a friendship with a young man he would have avoided under ordinary circumstances.

Murphy’s older brother Chris, 25, and Ramin Ackert, 26, launched Voices in Harmony three months ago in an effort to bridge racial, social and cultural gaps in the city through theater.

Los Angeles’ theater community embraced the idea, Chris Murphy said. About 40 professionals have volunteered to do everything from mentoring the young people to designing sets.

A graphic design company donated 2,400 brochures, and contributions from about 50 private sponsors have ranged from $10 to $1,000, Murphy said.

On Jan. 15, the group will open its first production at the Tiffany Theater on Sunset Boulevard, with performances alternating between there and the Met Theater on North Oxford Avenue in Hollywood for the next 10 days.

The Tiffany donated use of its theater, and the Met “gave us a huge price break,” Ackert said. “It is uncanny how this project had an energy of its own. Chris and I sort of pushed the ball, but there was a hill it rolled down on its own momentum.”

Voices has paired 11 young people with individual mentors who worked with them to develop the pieces to be performed later this month.

“Many of the mentors are actors,” said Murphy, 25. “Others are writers. They come primarily from theater or performing backgrounds, and they are all characterized by a willingness to create and learn with someone they would not otherwise meet.”

Watching a “15-year-old Latina from East L.A. working with a 35-year-old woman from Beverly Hills is captivating,” Chris Murphy said. “The work is phenomenal. In a sense, all Ramin and I are doing is giving these kids the space to allow their self-expression to take over.”

Murphy said the program owes a good deal to the theater project at Heart of Los Angeles Youth, a community center on Wilshire Boulevard where he once worked as a volunteer.

“The theater program there is wonderful,” he said. “Kids are taught theater, they write their own plays and put them on stage. It’s a safe place for kids to use their creative and academic skills.”

Working with those youngsters swept away some of his own racial stereotypes and made him realize that if inner-city youngsters “get that chance to be creative, magical things can happen.”

Ackert, who is a regular on a new PBS series, “Crossroads Cafe,” said he was a victim of prejudice and racism. His parents are German and Iranian, and he said he had “a very difficult time, especially during the [1979-81] hostage crisis.”

He was the butt of cruel jokes in elementary school in northern Virginia, he said, and he was shocked that he could still “fall victim to stereotypes about inner-city kids, Latino kids, African American kids.”

He had to learn “just how familiar they could be,” he said. “All of the labels are totally inappropriate.”

Los Angeles is seen as a divided city, Chris Murphy said, “but the diversity here offers a wealth of opportunity for growth. If you dare, in a sense, to step out there and recognize that, the rewards far outweigh the sacrifices.”

Consuelo Norte, a volunteer writing consultant with Voices, said the program shows just how important theater can be in opening people up and contributing to their emotional well-being.

“It’s unfortunate that we cannot reach many more students, but we have had a real impact on the lives of those we do reach,” she said.

Ixzchel Salgado, 14, is one. She is determined not to be limited by others’ stereotypes of Mexican Americans. “I want to break through the stereotypes and get as far as I can,” she said.

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She and her brother Christian, 20, learned about Voices at the Echo Park Boys and Girls Club. “Being on stage is very nerve-racking for someone who has never been in entertainment,” Christian said. “You discover how self-conscious you are.”

And you discover your dreams. His piece deals with living in a gang-ridden neighborhood and the near-death of a friend who was stabbed with a screwdriver. Without giving away his story line, he said the piece he will perform this month is centered on “not giving up on your dreams.”

For actor Drew Ebersole, 24, Voices is an opportunity to put into practice the philosophy of thinking globally but acting locally.

“The opportunity to meet these young people on a super-close level makes an incredible difference in how you perceive them,” he said. He believes that his friendship with Julio Colon, the student he is mentoring, will continue beyond the project.

If the production this month is able to convey to the audience how perceptions change with interaction, “then we will have done something important,” he said.

The Beat

Today’s centerpiece focuses on an organization that helps young people create and perform original plays. To volunteer for this program or similar ones contact:

Voices in Harmony: Chris Murphy, (310) 822-2501, or Ramin Ackert, (310) 915-6678

Heart of Los Angeles Youth: (213) 389-1148

Crossroads National Education and Arts Center: (213) 291-7321