TWENTY AND COUNTING : Young at Heart, SCR’s Theater Training Program Trolls Along With Staging of a Norwegian Folk Tale

South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory turns 20 this season, but don’t break out the Geritol yet. Despite an economy that has left some children’s arts groups struggling to stay afloat, according to the conservatory’s director, Diane Doyle, SCR’s theater training program for youths is experiencing growth spurts that will last well into its third decade and, it is hoped, beyond.

This weekend, the Young Conservatory Players will mark the anniversary with performances of “East of the Sun & West of the Moon,” Brian Kral’s adaptation of the Norwegian folk tale of the same name.

“East of the Sun” is directed by Young Conservatory instructor Barbara June Dodge and features eight teen-age actors and one adult. The story follows the unlikely courtship of Pader, a young man who has been transformed into a bear, and Karin, a beautiful and selfless girl who must overcome seemingly insurmountable odds and an assortment of gargoyles to rescue her beloved from the clutches of the evil troll queen.

Recommended for children ages 8 and up, “East of the Sun” opens the 1993-94 season beginning Saturday on SCR’s Second Stage. The players will also stage “Rags, Sticks and Rope: The Fables of Aesop” in April and May and “One Thousand Cranes” in June.

Young Conservatory Players is the most visible program of the Young Conservatory, which was founded in 1973 by former SCR company member Lee Shallat. It started humbly, with a single, free performance of “Magic Theatre” on the SCR Mainstage in 1978. Since then, more than 40 shows for young people have been produced, nearly half of them world premieres or original adaptations by SCR artists.

Until recently, the Young Conservatory didn’t stray far from its comfortable digs in SCR’s Fourth Step Theatre in Costa Mesa. Young Conservatory students, who range in age from 8 to 17, trained under a team of professional actors, directors and designers in SCR’s classrooms and presented a three-show season--the first and third shows on SCR’s Second Stage and the second in Founders Hall at the Orange County Performing Arts Center.

But the conservatory’s face is changing with age. Because tuition runs $180 for an 11-week session, students have tended to be from middle- or upper-income families. In 1986, however, a grant from Target stores helped Doyle establish the Neighborhood Conservatory, a satellite program that brought Young Conservatory training into underserved, primarily low-income communities. That program, now funded by the Norris Foundation, continues with weekly, after-school programs at several sites.

Target money also helped mount annual tours of Young Conservatory Players’ shows, bringing them to audiences that might otherwise not see them. This year, Doyle is doubling the number of touring sites to 10.

The expansion of tour dates is also a cost-cutting measure. As of this season, the conservatory will not rent Founders Hall in the Orange County Performing Arts Center for its second show. Subscribers will see “Rags, Sticks and Rope” in a free, private performance at SCR; non-subscribers can see it in one of four free performances during the Imagination Celebration in April.

* What: South Coast Repertory’s Young Conservatory Players in “East of the Sun & West of the Moon,” directed by Barbara June Dodge.

* When: At 2 p.m. and 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 11 and 12, and Dec. 19; at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17, and at 4 and 7:30 p.m. Dec. 18.

* Where: South Coast Repertory’s Second Stage, 695 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa.

* Whereabouts: From the San Diego (405) Freeway, exit at Bristol Street and drive north. Turn right on Town Center Drive.

* Wherewithal: Tickets are $8 to $10, and subscription seating is available. Parking is $4.

* Where to call: (714) 957-4033

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