Even as his own life was coming to an end, Timothy Patrick Boyle offered words of encouragement that inspired a new beginning for Toledo-area youth interested in the performing arts.

John Klein was practicing for a student play at Central Catholic High School when his confidence started wavering. He doubted himself, but his cast mate, Timothy, encouraged him with sincere concern and his "wicked sense of humor."

After Timothy's death from kidney disease in April, 2002, Mr. Klein and his friend, Dale DeWood, formed a theater company. The group has donated more than $2,000 in proceeds from its performances to a Central Catholic scholarship in Timothy's name.

"Tim was kind, and he was sympathetic to anyone who

had a problem. When he died, it hit Dale and me really hard," Mr. Klein said. "We weren't great friends, but Tim really made an impact on me."

The theater company, called Still Waiting Productions, has grown steadily since its production of the play Waiting for Godot in the summer of 2002. The group, made up of high school and college students, has put on two one-act plays and the play Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, which Mr. Klein described as "basically Waiting for Godot with Shakespeare."

This weekend, the 40-member company will put on its first original show at the Collingwood Arts Center, 2413 Collingwood Blvd. The group hopes to attract 400 people to its adaptation of the book The Magician's Nephew by C.S. Lewis.

Mr. Klein, a 20-year-old film major at the University of Notre Dame, is producing the show. The script was written by Cole Simon and Kristin Green, members of the company who grew up in Toledo and now attend Ohio State University.

To buy materials for the show's scenery, which creates the magical land of Narnia invented by C.S. Lewis, the company raised about $3,400 from past shows, car washes, clearing tables at McDonald's, and selling patron ads in the show's program.

"It's really cool to see something we wrote in our dorm rooms at 5 a.m. come to life,'' Ms. Green said. "Everyone has invested so much in this show."

Still Waiting Productions is a spin-off group from the Backyard Players, a theater company founded by students at area Catholic high schools in the summer of 2000. The Backyard Players, which is not performing this season, put on several musicals written by students and donated ticket sale proceeds to local charities.

Pat McCarty and Brian Smith, two former Central Catholic students who performed last summer with the Backyard Players, decided in the fall to write their own show and form the Briat Productions student theater group.

Mr. McCarty, who attends Owens Community College, and Mr. Smith, who goes to college in Cincinnati, wrote a play about the misadventures of two con-artists in the 1920s and assembled a cast to perform the show.

About 300 people attended the play at Toledo's Ohio Theater earlier this month. Ticket proceeds, which totaled more than $1,600, went to Hospice of Northwest Ohio.

"My grandfather, great uncle, and friend all went through hospice. I've seen what an incredible organization it is," Mr. McCarty said. "People like to come watch the show when they know their money is going toward a charity."

Members of all three student theater groups say they harness the talent of young people in the area and form great friendships among the actors and crews.

"It's been quite a ride," Mr. Klein said. "Student theater is back here in Toledo. It's big now."

Still Waiting Productions will perform The Magician's Nephew at 8 p.m. today and tomorrow and at 3 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $6 for children and seniors and $8 for general admission.

Contact Rachel Zinn at:

rzinn@theblade.com

or 419-410-5055.

First Published July 30, 2004, 11:13 a.m.