New Children's Theater Troupe Preps First Performance

Asking performers to sit crisscross applesauce might not be a typical stage direction, but when you're directing 30-odd kids in a two-act theater production, it comes in handy.

Michele Sheehy Bowren, creative director of the Creative Kids Playhouse Theatre, conducted the group's final rehearsal of The Princess and the Pea before Thanksgiving break Tuesday at La Madera Elementary School.

The new nonprofit organization, based in Lake Forest, will raise the curtain on its first performances on Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at .

Some members of the cast, made up of local children in grades 1 though 6, shouted their lines with attitude during rehearsal, while others spoke them shyly, still finding their comfort zone on the makeshift stage in a room at the elementary school.

With packaging tape defining the stage, children bounded about the busy room, practicing the play's songs and dances in addition to their lines.

Each child who auditions for the theater group receives a speaking part, said Elizabeth Green Ramirez, company business director.

"Our idea is to give each kid a real theater experience," she said.

Bowren, Ramirez and assistant creative director Jennifer Beaver Estrada make up the trio of Lake Forest residents who run the theater troop.

Children from local schools, including , Mission Basilica, Abiding Savior and Carl Hankey K-8, make up the 32-person cast. The next time they meet will be at  for a final dress rehearsal.

Catch the two-act performance at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 30 and Dec. 1 at , 25255 Toledo Way. Admission is $9.

Tickets for "The Princess and the Pea" are available at CreativeKidsPlayhouse.com.