LIFE-AND-DEATH THEME FOR CHILDREN : DRAMA FOR CHILDREN FOCUSES ON LIFE, DEATH

“Life is like a bright balloon. Hold it tight . . . because once you let it go . . . it floats away forever.”

Aurand Harris’ drama “The Arkansaw Bear,” presented with care by Cal State Northridge, gently attempts to help children understand the inevitability of death and the importance of treasuring life.

Speculation about an afterlife is avoided; only the fundamental fact of death is addressed.

Young Tish’s grandfather is dying and she feels an overwhelming mixture of emotions: grief, fear, guilt and anger. Maybe if she’d been quieter so he could sleep. . . . A magic star (Romy Miereanu) grants her wish to learn why people have to die.

Enter the World’s Greatest Dancing Bear (Terry Hastings in derby hat and spats), who’s running away from death, represented here by a circus ringmaster (Gianna M. Sabella).

After trying to think of ways to avoid dying, he finally wishes for someone to teach his dances to, so he would “shine on earth and leave a trace.”

On cue, a little country bear in overalls appears.

In the most funny and touching sequences, Dancing Bear teaches Little Bear (Carisa J. Ducommun) his most famous routines, hurrying to beat the clock.

When his time is up, he has accepted the inevitable. “I was a part of what was before and I am a part of what is yet to be.”

There is sadness in the play. No effort is made to trivialize loss, nor to pretend that mortality is easy to accept. Rather, the normalcy of death as part of the pattern of life is the demystifying message.

Director Catherine Dezseran allows the emotion, carefully avoiding any alienating excess.

Although some of the cast simply give a recitation of lines, the principals are affecting and effective.

As Dancing Bear, Hastings doesn’t always convey vulnerability, but at the end his desperate need to pass on his heritage is genuinely moving.

The Bear’s mime companion, Julie C. Jacobson, is amusing and very human, while Ducommun, with Arkansas drawl and freckles, is completely charming and funny as Little Bear, never more so than in the finale when she demonstrates colorful country jigs combined with the legacy of Dancing Bear’s classical style.

Teresa Gibson is excellent as Tish, believable in her grief and bewilderment and her final acceptance of the loss of her grandfather. “Grandpa left a footprint--me.”

Cal State has tackled a difficult subject with respectable results.

The stark set of wooden slats and platforms is by Owen W. Smith. Ron Spangler did the lively choreography. Ruth A. Brown designed the pleasing costumes.

Performances play Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 2 p.m.; (818) 885-3093.