CHILDREN’S THEATER REVIEW : ‘Harriet’ Has Adventure on the Brain : The Children’s Play Is as Action-Packed as a Cartoon, but Also Contains Wit and a Message

Eleven-year-old whiz kid Harriet Handleman is the brainy brainchild of Greg Atkins, the writer-director who introduced her last year at the Irvine Valley College Theatrefaire for Children. She’s back in fine form this summer in “The Further Adventures of Harriet Handleman (Super Genius),” at IVC’s Forum Theatre where she, her four faithful friends and her CIA sidekick are on the hunt for Hugo, Harriet’s little brother.

Hugo has been kidnapped by an evil, corporate mega-mistress of pollution whose hyphenated surname reads like a marital chain reaction. Let’s just call her O’Malley. O’Malley has a scheme to force Harriet to help her create an Invisibility Zone Entrance, through which sheintends to hide all of her toxic waste.

With the aid of Harriet’s inventions, including a nitro-burning pogo stick, solar-powered speed sneakers and jet packs a la The Rocketeer, the super genius and her cohorts engage in a transcontinental search for Hugo that culminates in fisticuffs on both sides of the Invisibility Zone.

For the story’s special-effects demands, Atkins and his designers Brad Elsberry and Chris Medvitz have found inventive solutions, all of them delightfully simple, theatrical and satisfying. Occasionally the physical business of the performers is not practiced enough to create the full visual effects that Atkins is after, but his staging cuts from scene to scene with the eye of a television watcher, which ought to appeal to his target audience. This show has the ultra-bright outlandishness of a Saturday morning cartoon, but with more wit and a politically correct message about pollution--and a heroine whose principal force is brainpower.

The story itself is a formulaic search and rescue mission; most of the real invention has gone into the staging rather than the script. Still, “The Further Everyday Adventures of Harriet Handleman” packs a lot of action, puns and American geography into 70 minutes. The production abounds with kid-proven buzzwords like danger and top secret. Punctuated by a rousing soundtrack, this adventure is a happy summer vacation sidetrip for the whole family.

The six children in the cast are all strong. Stephanie Kinkel is an unflappable Harriet, and as her friends, Nathan Headrick, Justin Morgan, Jamie Rubin and Elisabeth Cass are all lively. Scott Morgan, as Hugo, is especially convincing when he’s glued together by the villains.

The grown-ups are enjoyable, particularly Ramsey Nunn as Feeb, O’Malley’s dim-witted henchman who appears in a comical assortment of disguises. Kristen Swanson’s O’Malley is a kid-vid version of an evil seductress, and Bill Robertson as the tuxedoed CIA man, though hampered by a hoarse voice on opening weekend, made a fine foil for the children.

‘The Further Everyday Adventures of Harriet Handleman (Super Genius)’

An Irvine Valley College and Irvine Valley College Theatrefaire for Children presentation of the play by Greg Atkins, directed by Atkins. Assistant director: Blake Gould. Producer: Charlene Gould. Executive producer: Dr. Donald Rickner. Set designer: Brad Elsberry. Costume designer: Gloria Moss. Lighting designer: Chris Medvitz. Sound designer: Eric Kerns. Video production: Shane Sabicer. Stage manager: Rochelle Cabrera. With Nathan Headrick, Stephanie Kinkel, Justin Morgan, Jamie Rubin, Elisabeth Cass, Kristen Swanson, Ramsey Nunn, Scott Morgan and Bill Robertson. Performances July 11 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m.; July 12 and 13 at 2 and 7 p.m.; July 18 at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., and July 19 and 20 at 2 and 6 p.m. in the IVC Forum Theatre, 5500 Irvine Center Drive, Irvine. Tickets: $8 for children under 12, $10 for adults. Box office: (714) 559-3333.