Series Offers 2 Shows for and About Families : Theater: The In the Spotlight children’s drama program is presenting “Cheaper by the Dozen and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.”

Entertaining the family can run into big bucks, but the Yorba Linda Parks and Recreation Department is serving up an affordable alternative.

Two family-oriented productions, complete with free ice cream at intermission, will be offered over the next three Saturday evenings as part of the city’s 1990 Summer Theater on the Green series.

For a donation of $1 per person, families can stretch out under the stars at Hurless Barton Park and see a performance of the comedy “Cheaper by the Dozen” Saturday or the musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” July 7 or 14.

In the Spotlight, a Yorba Linda-based actors’ training program for children 3 to 18, is producing the series, which opened with “Cheaper” Saturday to a capacity audience.

“We think theater is something that families should experience together,” said Robyn Naylor, executive producer of the series. The park setting “gives us all a chance to be out under the stars and start to appreciate the theatrical experience without a lot of expense and hassle.”

“Cheaper” is based on the book of reminiscences by Frank Gilbreth Jr. and Ernestine Gilbreth Carey about their father, a jocular efficiency expert who had his own theories about how to rear his 12-child family.

Frank Gilbreth Sr., Naylor said, “figured you could take these dozen children, train them properly, send them out into the world, and they would all do just fine. It’s a fun, accessible story about the real-life adventures of being a family.”

The play is set in the 1920s. The Spotlight production features an 18-member cast of youngsters ages 6 through 16 directed by Judy Sofer, a member of the Spotlight teaching staff. Naylor designed the period costumes, and Fullerton Civic Light Opera volunteers built the sets.

Naylor’s students also compose the cast of “Charlie Brown,” the Broadway musical based on the child characters in the Charles Schulz comic strip. Paul Haggerty is the director for the musical.

Naylor said she is coordinating the series at no charge to the city in order to give her young actors “the maximum opportunity to perform.”

“This outdoor experience will be totally different for them,” she noted. “For example, there are no blackouts, so they had to learn how to exit by just walking quietly off the stage. It’s a good lesson for them.

“Plus, we’re always telling our kids that the talent they have is a gift, and they need to have every chance they can to give the gift to other people.”

“Cheaper by the Dozen” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” are presentations of the Yorba Linda Parks and Recreation Department Summer Theater on the Green series. “Cheaper” will be presented Saturday and “Charlie Brown” July 7 and 14 at Hurless Barton Park, Casa Loma Avenue between Yorba Linda Boulevard and Imperial Highway. Admission is free but officials ask donations of $1 per person. Show times are 7:30 p.m. Information: (714) 961-7160.