Leaving it to the imagination

Young Chang

You won’t find fancy sets at Tales & Scales’ shows.

The props will be minimal, the costumes will be limited.

The last thing the troupe’s musicians want to do is hand over the

story. Instead, their goal is to force children’s imaginations to fill in

the holes to completely tell the tale being performed.

“If we want to show that two people are rowing in a boat, we don’t

have a boat and oar as props,” said Deborah Moore, artistic director and

percussionist for the troupe. “We use a clarinet and trombone as oars, so

the child has that moment of discovery.”

Tales & Scales will perform “Pandora’s Box,” a story about challenging

the status quo, on Saturday at the Orange County Performing Arts Center

as part of the Founders Family Fun series, formerly known as Saturdays at

the Center.

“We’re really excited about the way Tales & Scales combines the

different performing arts. Their production is part storytelling, part

dance and part instrumental music,” said Bethany Bohall, manager of

education programs for the Center.

Tales & Scales, an Indiana-based “musictelling” performance troupe,

communicates to its audience through a mix of music, theater, dance and

imagination. Four musicians make up the group: flutist Zara Lawler,

clarinetist Patrick Leyden, percussionist Moore and trombonist/euphonium

player C. Neil Parsons.

Each is a classically trained musician.

“It’s not a theater company where some people happen to play

instruments,” Moore said.

The troupe integrates music with theater, as in the example of using

instruments to represent boat oars, to encourage active listening and

watching.

“I feel that activity engages the kids,” she said. “The music takes

place not only onstage, but it takes place in each child’s imagination.”

Today’s performance of “Pandora’s Box” takes the Greek myth about a

box filled with despair, chaos, all kinds of horrible things and hope,

and puts a spin on it.

Tales & Scales’ version involves a curious woman who opens Pandora’s

box not only because she’s curious, but because she hears a sound of

beauty. She’s told not to open the box but still does, tempted by the

lovely sound.

Terrible things fly out of the box, and the woman closes it. She then

decides to reopen the box to fix what she’s done and to search for that

beautiful sound. She enters an underworld and looks for beauty and hope.

“We’re really excited about exposing Orange County schoolchildren to a

multidisciplinary art form, as well as a historical and educational

context,” Bohall said.

FYI

* What: Tales & Scales’ “Pandora’s Box”

* When: 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. Saturday

* Where: Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive,

Costa Mesa

* Cost: $9

* Call: (714) 556-2122