Foster teen's life takes spotlight in award-winning play

By: SHAYNA CHABNER - Staff Writer | Monday, January 7, 2008 4:10 AM PST ∞

SAN PASQUAL VALLEY -- When James Monroe sat down months ago to write a script for a play about his life in the foster care system, the teen wasn't looking for recognition, he was hoping to create something different.

Teen pregnancy and dating dilemma sagas have been overdone by his peers and Hollywood, Monroe, 18, said Thursday. There are always the same obstacles, decisions and endings.

"This one is a little bit different," Monroe said. "Not everyone knows about the foster system ... and this lets people know that not everyone has the opportunity to live at home."

Having a different story helped the San Pasqual Academy senior win a recent statewide competition for writers under the age of 19.

Judges for the Playwrights Project's annual Young Playwrights Contest chose Monroe's script from nearly 300 others because it offered "a slice of life you don't often see on stage, if ever," said Maria Glanz, executive director of the Playwrights Project.

As one of four winners chosen, Monroe's play will be professionally produced by the members of the Playwrights Project as part of it Plays by Young Writers festival.

Three other young writers from North County also will have their plays read by professional actors during the festival.

"It's pretty cool," Monroe said, noting that he never really considered himself to be a writer. "It sounded better having some actors reading it because they put some emotion into it."

The play, "Step by Step," tracks the life of a teenage foster boy who is considering running away from his group home to find his mother. It also delves into other obstacles in the teen's life, such as trying to cope with a strict living environment and the death of an older brother from a drug overdose.

Monroe said he pulled a lot of the material from his own life.

Before starting what he described as a more "stable life" in 2003 as a freshman at San Pasqual Academy -- an independent residential campus for foster teens in the San Pasqual Valley, just east of Escondido -- Monroe said he'd had several run-ins with the law and had bounced from school to school, making it difficult to succeed.

He said his six years in the foster care system were colored by his brother's overdose death and a rocky relationship with his mom.

"I have faced a lot of obstacles," he said. "But you can't let the obstacles shape you. ... You just have to stay positive."

Monroe's positive outlook and ability to express himself comes through in his work, his principal and others working with the Playwrights Project said.

On campus, for instance, the unsuspecting writer -- who donned a Darren Sproles Chargers jersey on Thursday, explaining that Sproles is the underdog --- is also the captain of a three-time championship football team, a peer leader and the recipient of most academic and conduct honors, Principal Tom Allison said.

"James is just a fantastic kid," Allison said. "He sees beyond himself. He is someone who has a vision outside of his own world and problems. His being here has made it a better place to be."

Plays by Young Writers festival. at the Lyceum Theatre in downtown San Diego from Jan. 31 through Feb. 10.

For more information, call the Playwrights Project at (619) 239-8222 or visit www.playwrightsproject.org.

Contact staff writer Shayna Chabner at (760) 740-5416 or schabner@nctimes.com.