Last year,

Offshoot Productions performed a play called "The

Trial of Goldilocks." It was an adaptation of the

beloved fairy tale and it needed a little something.

Offshoot's

artistic director, Susan Steadman, wrote several curtain

raisers for "Goldilocks" that involved children

from the audience coming on stage and participating

briefly in the production.

"It

was fantastic," said Steadman. "The children

were very excited to be contributing onstage and the

audience loved it as well." The positive response to

the audience interaction in "Goldilocks" led

Steadman to two other adaptations of children's stories,

"Cinderella, Cinderella" and "Treasure

Island," both of which will be performed at McIntosh

High School July 16-18 and July 22-25.

The plays

were not written by Steadman, but because there is so

much interaction with the audience required, it is up to

the director and the cast how to pull it off. The plays

are condensed and are very loose adaptations. For

example, the character of Jim Hawkins is now called Jamie

and is played by a girl. Much of the violence is also

missing from "Treasure Island" to make it

easier to perform and more accessible for more children.

The cast

for both productions is wildly divergent. There are two

professional actors performing and assisting the cast,

while some of the performers have never set foot on a

stage before. There have been a number of challenges in

getting the shows ready, the major one being accounting

for the presence of the children onstage and how to

address them.

During

rehearsals, the cast from the play not being rehearsed

becomes the audience. It gives the actors no indication

of how it will really go during performance. "It

will be a disaster if not many children show up,"

said Steadman. It is a great opportunity for local kids,

though, and the plays are very upbeat and funny.

"I

really think these plays give children an excellent

opportunity to extend their sense of play," said

Steadman. "While they are on stage, they realize

that what they do when they pretend is not much different

than what actors do. They can transform themselves. For

an afternoon they are pirates or at a grand ball with

Cinderella. They are stars."

Since she

doesn't know how well these plays will go off, Steadman

isn't able to say whether she will do something like this

again. The plays and the possibilities have excited her

though, to think of ways she could write and produce her

own adaptations made for interactive theater.

Perhaps

what she finds so interesting is the improvisation that

is required by the actors and the children. Improvisation

is to make something up on the spot and most of us have a

natural tendency toward this, especially when we are

children. The cast works hard at playing with each other

as they interact and the energy is contagious.

"Cinderella,

Cinderella" will be performed this Friday and

Saturday at 8 p.m., while "Treasure Island"

will be performed this Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m.

"Treasure Island" will be performed at 8 p.m.

Friday and Saturday, July 23 and 24, while

"Cinderella, Cinderella" will be performed

Saturday and Sunday, July 24 and 25, at 3 p.m. There will

be a special performance for large groups Thursday, July

22 at 10 a.m.

Tickets are

on sale now for $5 at the Peachtree City Library, Omega

Book Center in Peachtree City, and the Fayette Book Shop

in Fayetteville. For information call Offshoot

Productions at 770-631-2362.

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