Festival Puts Children’s Performers in the Spotlight

This weekend, the sprawling Peter Strauss Ranch in Agoura Hills will blossom with a colorful melange of canopies, balloons, musicians, dancers, actors, mimes, clowns and an array of eccentric, larger-than-life animal folk.

It’s an annual family event, the fifth Theatre Arts Festival for Youth--Taffy for short--presented in cooperation with the National Parks Service, which turns over about five of the park’s 65 acres to the event.

John and Pam Woods, as the performing duo J. P. Nightingale and perennial hosts of the Hollywood Bowl’s Open House summer children’s arts program, have been part of the youth theater scene for 17 years. The Canoga Park couple created the nonprofit Taffy festival five years ago to give a variety of children’s performers a place to come together and provide family entertainment.

More than 30 groups will perform at the two-day festival on three outdoor stages, one of which was added this year. Shows will last 20 to 40 minutes each and run continuously throughout the day. Last year, about 3,500 adults and children made the trip to the Lake Enchanto area park, contrasted with 800 five years ago.

The bill of fare includes old favorites such as singer/storytellers Dan Crow, Peter Alsop, Paul Tracey and We Tell Stories, a theater troupe.

Talent new to the festival includes comic Angela Lloyd, singer/songwriters David Jack and Craig ‘n Co., the Gospel Soul Messengers, Kids on the Block (not the rock group, but life-size puppets with physical handicaps), and Lois Young with her music and puppet show for preschoolers, called “Pancakes.”

Other performers are Viji, music and dance of India; Arco Iris, which performs South American folk music; Charles the Clown; the Aman Folk Ensemble; the Jim Gamble Marionettes; mimes Schwartz and Chung; Teatros de los Puppets; Judi Garrett, and Rhythms of the Village.

Bob Baker, whose Baker Marionette Theatre has been popular in Los Angeles for more than 20 years, will also perform. He, along with puppeteer Betsy Brown and Marion Bartoo, creator of Poet Tree, will each receive a lifetime achievement award during the opening ceremonies. Five or six booths will offer crafts for sale, and there will be half a dozen workshops as well. Workshops include Michael Marks’ Inflatable Art (a giant, air-filled structure that children crawl inside and color), hands-on musical activities, puppet-making, bead-stringing, book-making, kite-making, an arcade, a dunk tank and a Maypole. Some of the workshops charge between 25 and 50 cents for materials.

Childrens Hospital will conduct its teddy bear clinic for the fifth year so children can bring in their bears or dolls for a checkup.

The Taffy Town Players will portray animal characters who interact with festival-goers and maintain running plot lines throughout the day.

“They’re the mythical people of Puddledumplin,” a Victorian village circa 1850, said Garrett, who directs the troupe of professional actors who are taking part in the festival for the third year.

“There’s Taffy the Field Mouse--she takes children on a treasure hunt. Portland Bill, the Salty Sea Dog, plays the recorder and tells stories. Lord and Lady Bacon will renew their wedding vows; we’ll have a mock election for mayor and an open rehearsal for a wacky production of ‘A Christmas Carol.’ ”

“It’s more elaborate this year,” Garrett said when asked about last year’s sketchy Puddledumplin sets. “Last year we spent a lot of money on costumes; this year we spent it on sets.”

According to Wood, while the old sets were refurbished, this year’s $1,000 set budget was spent primarily on the building of the festival’s third stage.

“People expect to see Disneyland, but we can’t compete on that level,” he said. “It’s impossible to re-create a village when it has to be portable, so we tried to have the characters exemplify it more than the sets.”

Over the last three months, makeup artist and actor Clayton Martinez has, with Chris Robbins, designed the Taffy Town Players’ makeup, taking casts of actors’ faces and coming up with characters that reflect illustrator Michael Rogers’ Taffy designs. (The Taffy animal characters were created specifically for the festival.)

Martinez, who prefers doing fantasy makeup to science fiction and slasher makeup, said he particularly enjoyed doing a new character, the hedgehog, because “he’s got sort of a Don King haircut.”

The refreshments are operated by Tree of Life, a program of the Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Canoga Park. About 130 volunteers will operate the food stations, and the profits will help needy families in the San Fernando Valley.

“We basically try to help people in a crisis,” said Tree of Life Director Cindy Anderson. “Taffy is one of our major fund-raisers for the holidays.”

So that underprivileged children can attend the festival, the Woods have donated 1,000 tickets to organizations such as McLaren Hall, the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services, the Free Arts Clinic in Malibu, the Toberman Settlement House in San Pedro and the Harvard Park Task Force in South-Central Los Angeles.

Performers no longer have to volunteer their services as they did the first year. “They’re now paid an honorarium, and we up it each year. We’re trying to get close to their rate for a regular gig,” John Woods said. This year, principal funding has come from a $3,000 Mervyns grant. Other sponsors include Prudential Insurance Co. and Longo Toyota of El Monte.

“I always looked at this as a five-year pilot program,” he said. “This year will tell the tale of where we need to go from here--whether we’ll add more weekends or move to a different location.”

At the Peter Strauss Ranch (Lake Enchanto), 30000 Mulholland Highway, Agoura Hills, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday. Tickets are $8; $6 per person for seniors and groups of 10 or more; children under 3 free. Information: (818) 998-8424.