”Ready or Not,” at 6:30 p.m. Thursday on WMAQ-Ch. 5, the station`s 12th production in its ”On Stage On 5” series, is a delightfully brisk half-hour special about teen problems.
The show was created from improvisations by the eight-member troupe of the Young People`s Company of the Piven Theater Workshop in Evanston. Directors Bryne and Joyce Piven produced the special with input from the teens.
Working on a bare stage and moving the props around themselves to set up various situations, the troupe, which includes rising young star John Cusack
(”The Sure Thing”), runs through a lively half-hour of skits and songs dealing with issues of concern to teens and parents–drinking, drugs, violence, grades, dates, peer pressure, family crisis, death and nuclear war.