"C'mon kids, let's put on a show!"
The final two Children's Theatre of Nantucket performances of the season are tonight and tomorrow night
BY GRANT SANDERS INDEPENDENT COLUMNIST
Two summers ago, the Children's Theatre of Nantucket put on a performance of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," which was great fun - full of cool sight gags and funny one-liners, and one lucky person after each performance won a great big bag full of tooth dec- I mean, candy.

GRANT SANDERS/The Independent Owen Sanders bides his time as the Cowardly Lion until Hollywood calls.

Last season, they performed a rousing and action-packed version of "Peter Pan," with singing mermaids and sword fights and real simulated special effects which approximated flying. While singing.

This year, the fearless troupe of underage thespians tackled "The Wizard of Oz," which has got plenty of high drama, melting witches, magic caps, munchkins and an amazingly lifelike Yellow Brick Road.

Still, for three years I have asked the executive director of the Children's Theatre of Nantucket, Jennifer Dawson- Lawrence to put on a production of David Mamet's, "Glengarry Glen Ross," and each year she has ignored me and has instead produced some other play. Much to my chagrin.

GRANT SANDERS/The Independent The Wizard of Oz's remarkably life-life yellow brick road

(I'm thinking that only a Mamet play will truly showcase my son Owen's gritty yet poignant dramatic stylings and catapult him into starring roles in major motion pictures at the age of 11, while catapulting his mother and me into early retirement.)

I think the main reason that Jennifer has stayed away from "Glengarry Glen Ross" is that some of the parts are a wee bit demanding for young kids and in Children's Theatre of Nantucket productions, the performers - even those who are only six or seven years old - get around four hours of rehearsals a week before they put on a show before a live audience. (Wow! Try that, Al Pacino.)

Or maybe it's that there is a paucity of parts for girls in many of David Mamet's plays. Although, come to think of it, in "The Wizard of Oz" this season, a girl has played the Cowardly Lion, the Tin Man and the Great and Powerful Wizard of Oz him (her?) self on any given week. So I really don't see what the problem is.

GRANT SANDERS/The Independent The final two performances of the season are tonight, Wednesday the 15th and Thurs., Aug. 16 at 5 p.m. in the Mary P. Walker Auditorium in the Nantucket High School. Tickets are still available and seating is first-come-first-served, unless you are a vacationing film producer or talent scout, in which case, I'll be happy to kick the Tin Man's parents out of the front row just for you. - GS

The current production ends this week, with the final two performances tonight and tomorrow night, so don't miss it. I know I'll sound like a total stage-parent when I say, it's fabulous and fun for the whole family. Especially for little kids. There are no scary scenes for small children to worry about. No one has to win a set of steak knives. The flying monkeys are not really scary like in the movie starring Judy Garland (those things gave me nightmares. How about you? Raise your hand if you lay in bed at night to this day worrying that flying monkeys are going to burst through the windows of your room and steal you. No? Just me? Hmmm.)

Also, the shoes that Dorothy wears in the play are silver, not ruby red, because this production is true to the L. Frank Baum book, not the big budget 1939 movie. (Ha! Some big budget! They didn't even have enough money to shoot the first part of the film in color! The entire Children's Theatre of Nantucket production is performed in color. So there!)

One of the best parts about coming to this week's two final performances is that they are "donation night" shows, which means you can donate whatever you like for admission. The theater is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit, so bring your checkbooks and make a tax deductible donation. There will be a silent auction and fabulous silver slippers and other merchandise on sale. None of which promotes tooth decay (all that much).

Your support of The Children's Theater of Nantucket will ensure another season of summertime fun for a bunch of precocious and talented kids like my son, Owen, who would otherwise spend the summer attempting to ascend to level 139 in the Super Mario Brothers computer game. (Happily, with my son busy learning his lines as the Scarecrow or the Cowardly Lion, the computer games are freed up and I can ascend to level 139 instead.)

And if donations this year are really good, maybe Jennifer will have enough money to secure the performance rights to "Glengarry Glen Ross." So come out. Make a frustrated stage parent's day. Fingers

crossed. I