YOUNG, OLD ALIKE HAVE A DELICIOUS TIME AT TAFFY

One of the best $5 ticket values around last weekend came festooned with hundreds of brightly colored balloons and peopled with some of Southern California’s finest children’s entertainers.

The second annual Theater Arts Festival for Youth--which attracted about 1,500 and which its organizers refer to as TAFFY--was a full-day family treat.

The sprawling, woodsy Peter Strauss Ranch in the hills of Agoura was host Sunday to a variety of veteran show folk, willing to donate their time and effort to entertain children with theater, art, music and dance.

Fourteen performances ran on two outdoor stages while concurrent workshops allowed participants to create flags, posters and puppets, have their faces painted or work on artist Michael Mark’s huge inflatable art project--an enormous plastic balloon that kids drew on all day, inside and out.

Dancers, storytellers, theater groups, musicians, singers and puppeteers filled a program well chosen to appeal to different age groups.

While puppeteer Kathy Felker charmed the youngest with the appealing Jim Gamble Marionettes, older children and parents were treated to the offbeat (one might say slightly demented) artistry of master mimes Caleb Chung and Gary Schwartz.

The Aman Folk Ensemble presented colorful Eastern European folk dances and music, explaining the origins and legends behind them, as singer-musician Peter Alsop warmed his audience with silly songs and thoughtful messages for parents: “Talk about the nuclear situation. You’ve got the kids, the future’s in your hands.”

There is an unavoidable hazard in having two shows going on at once. One mom, hearing the laughter on the hillside where Alsop was performing, towed her dismayed daughter away from the folk dancers. “But, Mom, I don’t want to go. This is good.”

“Yeah, but this guy sounds real funny.”

No show lacked an audience, however.

Paul Tracey, gentle and mellow-voiced, held viewers with African stories and songs with wacky lyrics (“Did you know that photographs are really people squashed up flat?”) and did a hilarious imitation of a suspicious chicken, who begins to suspect that the farmer isn’t taking her eggs away from her for philanthropic reasons.

Mime Judi Garrett’s skillful sisterly approach brought young volunteers onstage, willing to help her tug imaginary ropes, play leapfrog or throw an imaginary ball.

Audience participation was a big part of the day. Carl Weintraub’s outstanding, never ordinary We Tell Stories troupe gave several children the chance to take part in acting out selections from Grimm’s Fairy Tales and Carl Sandburg’s “Rutabaga Stories.”

The Imagination Company’s in-the-round version of “Young King Arthur” lacked tightness, but made use of many eager audience members as props.

Less successful were percussionist Greg Johnson, whose timing seemed off--his frenetic pace was tiring--and the Free Flight improvisation dance troupe that conducted a fine workshop early in the day but whose performance seemed strained and unconnected--possibly due in part to the tiny, uneven amphitheater stage.

Faring much better on the patio stage were the dancers of Fujima Kansuma Kai, with their colorful traditional Japanese dance, which opened with a throat-catchingly delicate performance by one tiny 6-year-old.

Down-to-earth singer Dan Crow delighted viewers with a story about chewing five pieces of bubble gum at once and then sang about a pacifist sweet potato named Yambo--his answer to Rambo.

Joining Crow on stage for the chorus were festival producers John and Pam Wood, the husband-and-wife team known as J. P. Nightingale, who opened the festival with their smooth vocal harmonies and humorous stories.

The Woods, part of local quality children’s entertainment for many years, treated festivalgoers as old friends and maintained constant watch to keep things running smoothly. (When a parking problem arose for the large crowd, John Wood quickly instituted an impromptu bus service, shuttling people from distant areas.)

The pair’s personal warmth and commitment set the tone for an exceptional family day.