A fairy-tale experience

Suzie Harrison

Steve Josephson, director of Gallimaufry Performing Arts, is bringing

the Broadway experience to Laguna Beach youth performers with “Into

the Woods Junior.”The production, set for Saturday and Sunday, will

be performed by actors ages 7 to 17.

“We’ve actually been focusing on some of the different aspects of

the play because this is a storytelling piece ... fairy tales and

narrations, and is presented very much in a story-like fashion,”

Josephson said. “We’ve actually had acting exercises dealing with

storytelling.”

One exercise was to do the entire play with hand-puppets so the

students understood the difference between acting a doing a

presentation.

“For children it was a lot of fun and very funny,” Josephson said.

Brianna Krantz, 10, plays the witch, which is one of many familiar

characters in this fairy tale that weaves in characters from other

tales, including “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and

the Beanstalk,” “Rapunzel,” and “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs.”

“I like that she gets to be in control over everybody and that she

has magical powers,” Brianna said. “And I like to yell.”

Brianna has been in eight other productions and said this is her

favorite so far. The young actors are working on the junior version

of the play in which many scenes are skipped and only the first act

is performed.

“This is my biggest role and I’ve always wanted to do this show,”

Brianna said. “I like the music and how the story is put together.”

She said she has learned to add more focus and energy. She puts

more emphasis on her words. She learned to project her voice loudly

to be heard since they aren’t using microphones.

Brianna sings two solos, one that is in a rap style and another

that she considers a little more difficult.

“I get nervous because my counts are very hard, and I haven’t

memorized my counts yet,” Brianna said. “The rap song is very fun,

and I actually knew it from before -- my dad was in it in Feb. 2002

with No Square Theatre and I went to all the rehearsals.”

Josephson said he took in more younger actors than usual to give

them an opportunity to learn from the older actors and to introduce

the idea of how much focus and work it takes.

“We actually sat down and did a lot of script analysis with this

play for the kids to understand all the different areas that the

humor came from,” Josephson said. “[We looked at] what was inherently

funny about the stories, what was funny as a device from the authors,

and what was funny in our modern world looking at old fashion fairy

tales.”

They also discussed the place fairy tales have in modern culture.

Chloe Mansour, 9, enjoyed learning more about her character Little

Red Riding Hood.

“She’s a really hungry girl and takes a lot of bread from the

baker,” Chloe said. “If people try to touch my cape, I get really

mad. I have a temper problem.”

Josephson said it’s because of the educational aspect that the

Neighborhood Congregational Church sponsored “Into the Woods Junior.”

“It’s been a tremendous kind of bonding experience with the kids

of all ages,” Josephson said. “You can just see it.”

Performances are at 2 and 4 p.m. Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday at the

church’s Bridge Hall, 340 St. Ann’s Drive. Tickets are $10 for adults

and $5 for children under 18. For information, call (949) 499-5060.