THEATER REVIEW ‘IN OTHER WORDS’ : Children at Play : Group tours schools and public facilities with a work on the evolution of language.

It is only about 40 minutes long, but “In Other Words,” an examination of the evolution of communication and language, is aimed at a very young audience.

Produced and presented by Actors for Children, an offshoot of Thousand Oaks’ Xanadu Theatre Company, the play is currently touring elementary schools and public facilities in the area.

Director Barbara Wegher-Thompson has outfitted her cast of attractive young adults with bright costumes. The group brings lots of motion and enthusiasm to a series of sketches that begins in prehistoric times (“Back,” according to Sharon Elizabeth Doyle’s script, “when there were no words like ‘peanut butter,’ or ‘Help! There’s a lion!’ ”) and concludes in the present.

It’d be condescending to suggest that the cast might be a bit overqualified for the material. But the group does boast several professional credits ranging from Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” to “Teen Wolf” among them. Allison Levine was recently quite impressive in the Gothic Productions’ presentation of “The Picture of Dorian Gray,” and the eldest member of the company, David Himes, recently played Macbeth for the Ojai Shakespeare Festival.

What’s important is that the cast members don’t act as if they’re above the material. In fact, all concerned seemed to be having a good deal of fun at Saturday’s performance in Newbury Park, especially when interacting with the young audience. “Can anybody think of a word that rhymes with ‘in’?” asked one character. It was hard not to laugh when one tiny theatergoer responded, “Door.”

This show is aimed at a quite young audience; if they’re old enough to recognize the alphabet, that’s probably about right.

* WHERE AND WHEN

Upcoming public performances of “In Other Words” include Saturday at 10 a.m. at the Pleasant Valley Recreational District, 1605 E. Burnley St. in Camarillo; Nov. 21 at the Newbury Park Library, 2331 Borchard Road in Newbury Park (4 p.m.) and the Thousand Oaks Library, 1401 E. Janss Road in Thousand Oaks (7 p.m.); and Dec. 5 at 3:30 p.m. at the Ray D. Prueter Library, 510 Park Ave. in Port Hueneme. The Camarillo performance is $3; the Newbury Park, Thousand Oaks and Port Hueneme shows are free. For more information, call 991-1714.