THEATER REVIEW ‘DIG ‘N’ TEL’ : Laughs and Lessons : Youthful cast in Santa Paula re-enacts--through characters and song--four stories from Jewish folklore.

Students on an archeological dig in Israel find ancient artifacts and regale one another with stories relating to the various shards, pieces of cloth and parchment. Occasionally, the students break into song.

That’s the plot of the youth-oriented play “Dig ‘n’ Tel,” the current production of the Santa Paula Theater Center’s Hundred Hats Youth Theater.

An energetic cast of 11, ranging from roughly 10 to 16 years of age, perform the framing story and take on various characters to re-enact the four stories, said to date as far back in Jewish folklore as a couple of thousand years.

Written by Flora Atkin and directed by Julie Kessler and Hundred Hats artistic director Terry Brenner-Farrell, the show includes lots of knockabout comedy as well as moralizing parables. It’s an hour or so (including intermission) well-spent for those about the players’ age or slightly younger. Parents shouldn’t feel too left out. Although the stories stem from handed-down Jewish tradition, they transcend ethnicity; parallels to the fables and characters can be found throughout world literature.

One of the better stories is the first, inspired (in the play, at least) by a shard from a pot used to cook couscous. The fable has the kind of ironic ending that would characterize stories by the American author O. Henry.

Cast members switch around quickly, and many characters have no names so it’s difficult to credit individual performances. Laurel Braitman is featured as the narrator. For some reason she is a reporter for Israeli television who keeps breaking into regularly scheduled broadcasts to inform the evidently anxious viewing public on what’s being pulled out of their native soil.

Other players include John Atkinson, Jessica Baumgarten, Carrie Buehler, J’Lene Melchoir, Luana Mueller, Jeremy Paul, Matt Plomell, Adam Tennen, Colleen Wedding and Heather Williams. One young actress delivers her lines with such a contemporary teen-age twist that one expects her to break out into an “ohmygod” any minute.

The excellent but uncredited set design is by Brenner-Farrell, who also designed the makeup. Larry Wright performs backing music on a synthesizer. Some of the ensemble singing and unison speaking was a bit ragged at the opening last Thursday, but experience should help smooth out that problem.

“Dig ‘n’ Tel” might inspire young archeologists or folklorists. The Hundred Hats group, which also conducts classes, should inspire young thespians. Which of the two will benefit the world most is one of the many subjects that the show may provoke among its audiences.

(The play’s odd title is explained in the script: a “tel” being a mound containing the remains of one or more ancient civilizations. The pun would be stronger if author Atkin had used the spelling “tell,” specified by the Random House Dictionary of the English Language, which doesn’t acknowledge “tel.” But we quibble.)

* WHERE AND WHEN

“Dig ‘n’ Tel” continues through Sunday at the Santa Paula Theater Center, 125 S. 7th St. in Santa Paula. Performances are this afternoon at 4, Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m., and Sunday afternoon at 2:30. Tickets are $7, $5 for children 15 or under with special rates available for groups of 10 or more. For reservations or further information, call 525-4645.