THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT  
              Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Friday, July 22, 1994                  TAG: 9407210163
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 
SOURCE: BY JIMMY GNASS, STAFF WRITER 
                                             LENGTH: Medium:   64 lines

STAGE STRUCK THE PLAYWRIGHT: WINNER OF STATEWIDE COMPETITION GETS AN OPPORTUNITY TO WORK WITH PROFESSIONAL ACTORS AND DIRECTORS.

A YOUNG MAN lies on a cot center stage.

He is dressed in ivory clothing. He is emotionless, still, seemingly dead.

Surrounding him are five creatures. Each one is a different color, their faces painted in elaborate designs. They chant to the audience words like hate, pain, dirt, deceit, while slinking and writhing about.

Does this sound like a bad nightmare?

Try the dramatic incantation of a high school playwright.

Lara Southerland is the writer of ``Walter,'' a play stage-read by Theatre Virginia last Saturday. Lara, 17, is one of 10 winners in a statewide playwriting competition. Winners attended a three-week playwriting program sponsored by New Voices for the Theatre.

New Voices, a Richmond-based program founded in 1990, has the only playwriting contest for students in Virginia. Since its inception, nearly 1,000 scripts have been entered.

``Walter'' is about a young man who can't perceive reality. He is reduced to a state of catatonia to cope with this dysfunction. Then enters Kay, a beautiful caretaker who becomes obsessed with getting through to him.

``Walter sees different realities but not all at the same time,'' Lara says. ``When he finally sees reality at one time, he can't handle it.''

This is tough thematic material for a person still in high school. Lara, who was 16 when she wrote the play, says: ``It grew from this short dialogue I wrote into an idea of someone who's life is entirely too big for them to deal with. He sees different aspects of reality. I thought that was interesting, so I took a guy and put him in that situation.

``Everyone has their own personal demons that torture them. This is more symbolic than everyone's real life, but everyone is guilty of this in one way or another. That's basically what's happening to Walter.''

Lara, who has acted in plays since the sixth grade and moved on to become president of the Kellam High School Thespian Troupe, said she has benefited tremendously from the workshop.

The program is a crash course in playwriting.

``For three weeks they are immersed in the whole world of theatre and actually working with professional actors and directors,'' says Stephen Carr, who is the project director of the program. ``That makes a big impact on them, so that when they leave, they leave with a lot of knowledge.''

Lara plans to attend Greensboro College in North Carolina in the fall. Surprisingly, theatre may not be her major.

``I'm going to take some basic classes and figure out what it is that I do want to do with my life,'' she says. ``I know I'm going to continue writing no matter what I do.'' ILLUSTRATION: JOSEPH JOHN KOTLOWSKI/Staff color photos

Lara K. Southerland, 17, poses with three of the characters whose

colors represent the changing emotions of the title character in her

play, ``Walter'': Jessica Andary (blue), Victoria McClure (red) and

Greg Ingber (yellow).

Lara applies blue makeup to Jessica Andary before rehearsal.

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