At first glance, San Rio Blanco appears to be a sleepy, deserted Mexican village. But behind that façade, mayhem is about to erupt.

What started out as just a vision in the mind of Simi Valley resident Peter Alexander has turned into Universal Studio Tour' newest attraction - the A-Team Live Action Show.

The fictitious Mexican border town, with its dusty roads, an adobe church, cantina and a warehouse is the setting for the new production, based on Stephen J Cannell's television show, "A-Team".

Alexander who moved to Simi Valley a year ago, is producer and creator of the live show, which is set to open June 16.

The production, which features car stunts, explosive and hair-raising demonstrations, will try and duplicate the action that has taken the "A-Team" to the top of the weekly television ratings.

As Alexander says, "We've got rocket launchers, motorcycle jumps, explosives and all the elements of the hit television series - only it's live."

Held in a 3.000 seat, two-acre arena - built by Oberg Construction of Simi Valley -spectators will see a speeding van crash through a billboard, a motorcycle crash thought an explosive baricade with its rider hurdled skyward, the detonation of a Baja Jeep and an assortment of other stuntwork.

Although the stunts are dangerous, a great deal of time and effort has been spent to minimize problems, Alexander said.

"We have developed the show from not only an imagination standpoint but from an engineering standpoint, which will enable the stunts to appear exciting but eliminate most of the risk," he said

Alexander's Universal team consists of co-writer Bob Zraik, set designer Larry Lester and stunt director Jim Winburn.
Richard Crane, who also lives in Simi Valley, is in charge of construction on the new attraction. As director of engineering and construction of MCA Recreational Services, the parent company of Universal Tours, Crane soon will be working on Universal's proposed 425 - acre center in Orlando, Fla. and other projects.

Crane said the A-Team attraction has taken most of his time lately.

Unlike a one- time staging for telivision shows, the A-Team attraction will see car stunts be repeated up to seven times a day. The new show will mark the fifth live production in the Universal Studios Tour Entertainment Center.

Creating haunted castles, barbarians living in mystical eras and heroes of the silver screen and bringing them face to face with thousands of people is second nature to Alexander.

He has helped create the Castle Dracula, Conan the Barbarian and other Universal Studios attractions.

"We got nine months a year to work on special attractions. We start in September with the conceptual plans," Alexander said.

Likewise, Crane has been involved in the construction end of dozens of Universal attractions.

He said construction on the $1.5 million A-Team project began in February, with Oberg Construction Co. doing most of the heavy work.

Brian Oberg, of Oberg Construction, said his crew built the 3,000 seat viewing arena, the crash wall, river beds and bridges.

Some of the sets and other details work is being done by individual contractors.

"We are working mainly on the safety end of its," Oberg said.

Oberg Construction has worked on several Universal Studios projects, including Castle Dracula.

During a recent visit to the construction site, workers busily tested bombs and put the finishing touches on the Mexican city while Alexander worked on the Z lot ,' where stunt men and women rehearsed their scenes.

During the show, children will even have a chance to ride in the A-Team van.

Although the A-Team television show is full of adventure, Alexander said he wanted to use its theme because it is a non-violent show.

"No one has ever been shot and no one has ever been hurt in the show," he said.

Before joining Universal Studios, Alexander worked in management for Disneyland.

He said about 100 people are working on the new attraction, which requires six weeks of rehearsals for the actors and stunt crew.

There are five people in each cast and there will be five or six shows a day, with 20 to 30 stunts per show.

Alexander's next project will be to work on the new Screen Test Theatre for 1985 and an in-the- works King Kong attraction.

He also is helping out in plans for the Universal Studios in Florida.

Crane, who has worked with Universal four years, said Universal has a new major attraction every year.

He said Oberg was asked to work on the new attraction because of the good working relationship Universal has had with the local company in the past.

"When we were building Castle Dracula, we solicited bids and a half dozen contractors bid on its Oberg submitted the low bid. After we interviewed the contractors, We were sold on Oberg," Crane said.

"We could see the chemistry. We were impressed by Nils Oberg (president of the company ), I was impressed by the old-fashioned integrity of Nils. He seemed to be the
type where if something went wrong, he would take the money out of his own pocket to pay for it ." Crane said.

Brian Oberg nodded his head andsaid, "Yeah, I've had to do that before."

Crane said at first he didn't even know Oberg Construction was based in Simi Valley.

To help celebrate the opening of the new A-Team attraction the stars of the television show are expected to be on hand to witness the live production.