Talent showcase at the arts center

COSTA MESA ? Zak Morgan found himself in a tough spot Monday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center: alone with his guitar on a dark stage, faced with an audience of parents, teachers and educators who were looking for acts to bring to their schools.

The situation called for an ice-breaker, and Morgan had one ready. To begin his last song, he asked everyone in the audience to extend their thumbs up and declare, “I feel cool.” The audience of 30 or so followed suit.

“Well, it’s good that you feel cool, because now we’re going to act goofy,” Morgan replied. He asked the spectators to bring their thumbs to their underarms and flap them like chickens, and thus began the chicken-pox song.

Morgan, who hails from Ohio, has released two albums of his quirky songs, garnering a Grammy nomination for one of them. In between trips to the recording studio, he sees his audience up close, doing more than 200 shows a year at elementary schools. On Monday, he was among the new arrivals at the center’s annual artist showcase, in which performers show their craft to the education community ? and then wait for phone calls.

“Everyone raved about the Orange County Performing Arts Center and said it’s the place to be,” said Morgan, who left after his set to drive back to Ohio for a 10-week school tour.

American novelty songs, Nigerian talking drums, Celtic dance, a Thomas Jefferson impersonator ? just about every kind of culture passed through the center on Monday, as more than 70 artists demonstrated their programs. Many of the performers were longtime clients of the center, but this year’s lineup featured 12 new artists, as well as others presenting new material.

The center’s education program, known as Arts Teach, has grown steadily since its inception in 1988. According to community programs manager Jason Siebert, the program ? originally known as Center on Tour, then From the Center ? had only seven artists its first year and gave a total of 65 school performances. During the present school year, the number of shows has exceeded 2,000.

“We look for three things: artistic quality, educational merit and entertainment value,” Siebert said. “We want to make sure it’s something new and unique to our roster.”

Participants in the Arts Teach program are available throughout the school year for assemblies, classroom and library presentations and even residencies. The center provides shows for schools both in and out of Orange County, although the local ones get an extra discount, courtesy of Robinsons-May.

Many of the performers on the roster are well-known even outside the education community. Michael Katz, a storyteller who joined the program this year, hosts a radio program and recently won a Parents’ Choice Foundation award for his latest album. At the Monday showcase, he regaled the audience with a classic Japanese folk tale ? then ended it prematurely, saying he would tell the rest to any school willing to host him.

His aim in visiting students, he said, is to encourage them to read more.

“They’ll ask me, ‘Where did you get that story?’” Katz said. “I always tell them the folk tale section of the library.”

Some performers offer material on a more personal level. Jacque Nunez, a member of the Acjachemen tribe that helped to build Mission San Juan Capistrano, presents an interactive play about life in Orange County before the days of European settlers. With her knowledge of the culture, Nunez said, she has little difficulty convincing students.

“They think I go home and live the way my ancestors did,” she said. “I tell them, ‘No, I live in a house like you. I drive a car. My kids eat pizza once a week.’”dpt.09-ocpac-kt-CPhotoInfoCI1QOJ8G20060509iyz299ncKENT TREPTOW / DAILY PILOT(LA)From left, Malik Sow, Peter Kors and Ernesto Salcedo perform Marimba music from Chiapas, Mexico during a demonstration at the Orange County Performing Arts Center’s Arts Teach Annual Artist Showcase on Monday.