Children's theater review : conservatory players accept challenge and succeed

With their newest production, John Glore’s “Wind of a Thousand Tales” at the Orange County Performing Arts Center, the 10-year-old South Coast Repertory Young Conservatory Players show every

sign of growing up. The players, graduates of a three-year theater training program for ages 10 to 17, have always had the considerable advantage of SCR’s professional creative resources,

giving them the best possible frame in which to show off their newly acquired skills. Last year’s tried-and-true “Cinderella” and “Tom Sawyer” looked terrific but played things comfortably

safe. This year, though, the players, not the sets and costumes, are the show. They prove up to the challenge. Nicole Parker, a pouty sprite with glasses and a big voice, is Kimberly-Kay, a

“child of the ‘80s” who has no time for bedtime stories. Her mother (played with mature warmth by Maureen Brophy) doesn’t want her to be in such a hurry to grow up. One night, Kimberly-Kay

is suddenly swept away by the “Winds of a Thousand Tales,” who bring her the magic of make-believe, acting out Mexican, Japanese and European folk tales. Taking a chance, the first two tales

combine romanticism and tragedy, and the cast handles them without self-consciousness. In the first, Corazon (guest artist Crissy Guerrero), loves self-satisfied, handsome Carlos (Paul

Constantine), but he pursues only beautiful girls, and Corazon is too plain. When Carlos is to marry, the brokenhearted Corazon sings what she has felt for him. Guerrero’s grace and lovely,

yearning voice infuse the play with a dignity that the entire cast responds to and reflects. Although that level of maturity is never quite matched, Beth Lockie gives a delicate performance

in the second vignette, the haunting story of a young woman who dances each night for the spirit of her dead lover. Molly Lynch’s evocative choreography is one of the production’s finest

elements. The third tale, slapstick and loose, takes a step backward; it lacks substance and unravels a bit. But Parker’s giggling, snorting reaction as she finally succumbs to the pleasure

of pretend is irresistible. Jose Cruz Gonzalez directs this refreshing hour; Diane King wrote the fine score. The subtlety of Dwight Richard Odle’s sets and costumes and Donna Ruzika’s

lighting are absolutely right. During the Japanese tale, Kimberly-Kay objects that the story isn’t true. One of the winds replies, “If it makes you feel something, then it has truth.” This

Young Conservatory Players production makes itself felt. _ The South Coast Repertory Young Conservatory Players’ production of “Wind of a Thousand Tales” by John Glore continues at the

Orange County Performing Arts Center, 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, at 1:30 and 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets: $5. Information: (714) 957-4033._ MORE TO READ