Chicago's Trap Door Theatre will present the latest piece by California scribe Naomi Iizuka [sic] Polaroid Stories Mar. 7-Apr. 10.

The author penned this story based on interviews she conducted with runaway teens in Minneapolis. Basing her characters on the mythic figures from Ovid's Metamorphoses, lizuka depicts the tale of alienated youth and the self-destructive, subculture world which they inhabit. Production notes label her new piece as "boisterous, profane and myth inflected portraits of street kids."

Iizuka was originally commissioned to do the piece by En Garde Arts. She went to Minneapolis after being awarded the McKnight Advancement Grant and decided to continue the piece in the Mid-West.

Not a stranger to social issue play writing, Iizuka's first play, Scheherazade, was commissioned and produced by San Francisco's Magic Theatre in 1996 as a part of their "Pieces of the Quilt" AIDS benefit.

Director Kay Martinovich recently returned to Chicago after directing Picasso at the Lapin Agile with the Buffalo Theatre Ensemble. Martinovich frequently works Chicago's Dramatists' Workshop on new play development. The cast of this Chi-town production of Polaroid Stories include Derrick Nelson, Nadine Griffith, Bernadette Miranda, Alex Present, Yvonne Huff, Beata Pilch, John Cabrera, Annie Long, Danny Belrose and Aaron Boucher.

The artistic crew includes lighting designer Richard Norwood, sound designer Bob Rokos and set designer Anatasia Platt.

Tickets are $12. Call (773) 384-0494 for reservations or visit www.ticketweb.com

-- by Becki Heller