Less Would Have Been More

“Cootie Shots,” subtitled “Theatrical Inoculations Against Bigotry,” has the best of intentions. Its goal is to raise awareness of and foster tolerance for children and teenagers targeted by teasing, hatred or contempt.

Schools are seeking ways to prevent tragic consequences when students feel threatened by their peers. So locally based theater group Fringe Benefits, with the help of theater professionals and educators, set out to help by creating a series of short sketches, songs and monologues to drive home a message of tolerance.

Schools and organizations are to have their pick among the many pieces; the show at Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica is actually a showcase for them, and a long one: With 29 pieces performed over 2 1/2 hours, vital messages lose impact because of repetition and varying quality.

Some of the short works talk at you pedantically. Peter Howard’s “Four Heroes,” offering thumbnail sketches of Cesar Chavez, Susan B. Anthony, Rosa Parks and Harvey Milk, is one of those; so is “Doing the Right Thing” by Cynthia Ruffin and the Gutierrez family, in which a girl is maligned for having a gay brother. The message that parents and teachers must intervene to protect students is important, but with the instructive tone that dominates, there’s little dramatic essence.

” . . . That Race Place” by Alice Tuan works better. A blind black man (Terrence Winston) and his Latina friend (Mercy Vasquez) grapple with their prejudices against Asians after a contretemps with an impatient young driver (Tien Thai).

“Uncle Constantin,” a subtle, eloquent excerpt from Luis Alfaro’s “A Family Affair,” is impeccable. In it, actor Steven Christopher Ruiz brings aching resonance to his solo turn as a lonely gay teenager who receives a gift from a respected uncle: wordless recognition and acceptance. Alfaro’s piece, and Ruiz, who also performs the affecting “La Peluca de Su Mama” by Jose Ramirez, raise the bar for the rest.

Actor-writer Mark Elliott Rosenthal contributes a strong sense of theater too. His “Moving,” one of the more dynamic sketches staged by director Laurie Woolery, shows how body language defines individuality, not alienness; his “Big Love” pays affecting tribute to the ingredient that’s most important in any family, whatever its construct.

Rosenthal is real and touching in Sheila Hillinger’s poignant “All the Adams in the World,” playing an autistic boy, scorned by peers, who communicates only through words from cartoons; his inner persona is sensitively played by Stephen Allman. And Rosenthal nails it as a first-grader trying to explain during show and tell that he feels 8 feet tall “In My Mommy’s High Heels,” a seriocomic song by Paul Selig, with music by Scott Killian.

Vasquez also contributes a well-defined stage presence, playing “Mother Nature” in Nancy de los Santos’ too-short, humorous monologue about how, in all our diversity, we come from one basic recipe. She’s a fun “Rapunzel,” too, in a piece written by Laryssa Husiak with B.J. Dodge. This Rapunzel is bored with hair, makeup and waiting for her prince, so she sets out to discover the world, set free by Liberty (Dianne Carlin).

The show is unquestionably earnest and gutsy. It asks audiences to recognize homophobia as well as racism and other reasons that children and adults are targets of fear and hate. It just does it at too much length. A smaller sampling of the most theatrically discerning pieces could have packed a wallop.

* “Cootie Shots,” Highways, 1651 18th St., Santa Monica, Friday through Sunday only, 7:30 p.m. $5 to $15. (310) 315-1459. Running time: 2 1/2 hours.

A Skin-Deep ‘Princess’: The Golden State Theatre gives Frances Hodgson Burnett’s children’s classic “A Little Princess” the musical treatment at La Mirada Theatre for the Performing Arts.

Written and directed by Adriane Coros, with music and lyrics by Coros and Kate Barrett, the show functions strictly on the surface with a serviceable cast of adults and word-perfect children, headed by young Megan Mekjian as Sara Crewe, the noble riches-to-rags-to-riches heroine. Exceptions are Kellie Nitkin as cockney scullery maid Becky and Wesley John as the dignified Indian servant, Ram Dass, who fully inhabit their roles.

The story is padded with songs and segments acting out some of Sara’s fanciful stories--an Indian prince and heroic maiden, mermaids and sea creatures, Cinderella. It’s one-dimensional, pleasant and undemanding, but the little princesses in the audience, in their ruffles, patent leather shoes and hair bows, had no complaints.

* “A Little Princess,” La Mirada Theatre, 14900 La Mirada Blvd., La Mirada, Friday, 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, 2 p.m. $8. (562) 944-9801; (714) 994-6310. Running time: 90 minutes.