匹兹堡洛斯梅达诺斯学院剧作家的嘻哈音乐剧角逐国家奖项

作者：Eve Mitchell，康特拉科斯塔时报

PITTSBURG -- A hip-hop musical about the challenges and rewards of inner-city life featuring Los Medanos College drama students is headed to a regional festival of the best college plays sponsored by the prestigious Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival.

匹兹堡人费德里科·巴托罗三世（Federico Bartolo III）创作了《My Block》，包括音乐。 The starring role is played by Lenard "The KYD" Jackson, an Antioch-based comedian, actor and musician who started doing stand-up comedy while in high school.

"My Block," a two-act play with 12 cast members, is among four plays selected from hundreds of community college and university productions in Northern California, northern Nevada and seven 天博 Western states. It will be presented at the Region VII festival, which takes place in Denver from Feb. 15 to 19. But before it heads to Colorado, it will play at Pittsburg's California Theatre from Feb. 9 to 11. Proceeds from ticket sales will be used to help with expenses for the Denver trip for the 29 drama students who are going.

这个故事是通过两个年轻人的视角讲述的。 Raphael is trying to ignore the temptations of the street life, drugs and gangs he grew up with and instead have a regular 9-to-5 job and life while his best friend, Poncho, is headed in the 天博 direction and involved with drug sales.

"My Block" can take place anywhere in the inner-city neighborhoods of the Bay Area and is not tied to any ethnicity, Bartolo said. "It's their life, black, brown or white. ... 它讲的是两个相同的人住在相反的地方。 One does the 9-to-5 because he thinks that's right. One does the street because he thinks that's right. 就像当全世界都反对你的时候，你会怎么做。”

Bartolo started writing plays two years ago after taking an improvisation and movement class at Los Medanos while studying to be a medical lab technician. Since then, he has written 11 plays.

“我上了那门课，最后玩得很开心。 The next semester I'm literally in my chemistry class sitting down and looking at a microscope. I had this epiphany moment. It was like, do I see myself doing this the rest of my life?" said Bartolo, who switched to a theater 天博.

“我开始进入戏剧世界，我开始表演和写作…… and just never looked back," said Bartolo, a 33-year-old part-time student who has a front-desk job when he's not writing plays. Jackson, a 20-year-old theater 天博 at Los Medanos, plays the lead role of Raphael.

"I'm trying to convey a character who a lot of people can relate to at this time, a lot of young men can relate to who go on the straight path but they still have temptations. ... I feel like the character fits a lot of young men in this day and age," said Jackson, a 2013 graduate of Deer Valley High School in Antioch.

如果你是谁：洛斯梅达诺斯学院剧院

地点：加州剧院，匹兹堡铁路大道351号

时间：晚上7点 2月9日，10日和11日

Cost: $15 general admission, $12 with college student or military ID, $10 with high school or middle school ID 在fo: 925-427-1611; www.pittsburgcaliforniatheatre.com