REEEEALLY BIG SHOWS : There Are No Small Parts in MYART Group Productions, Only Small Actors

At 29, Dana Hanstein is matriarch of a clan that makes the Von Trapps look like small change.

As founder and artistic director of Musical Youth Artist Repertory Theatre (MYART), Hanstein has led more than 500 Orange and Los Angeles county youths through a performing arts program designed to boost self-confidence and encourage teamwork. The group will strut its collective stuff in “Grease” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” beginning Thursday and Wednesday respectively in the Studio Theatre of Cal State Long Beach.

A look at video clips of past MYART productions would indicate that the 4-year-old group puts on a colorful, polished show presented by a dizzying number of performers of all sizes. But, as Hanstein explained by phone from her Long Beach office, while MYART’s two to three annual productions are certainly the most visible part of the program, they are not its heart.

“Working together is really what we’re all about,” said Hanstein. “The process is our main emphasis. We work at building a support system” among the students. “I want them to know that what is important is how they go to bat for each other, not how good they are.”

This “all-for-one, one-for-all” policy spills over into Hanstein’s casting technique. Even with a current enrollment of 300 (in grades K through 12), Hanstein and her mostly volunteer staff make an effort to give every member of the company a moment in the spotlight, whether it’s in a lead role or as a member of the ensemble.

The secret, as they say in the discount store ads, is volume. Selecting large, family-oriented musicals, Hanstein routinely double- or even quintuple-casts the major roles (in “Grease,” for example, five girls will alternate as Rizzo), and assembles choruses that can number in the triple digits.

“Everybody gets a chance to be successful,” said Hanstein.

There is a price to pay, however. After plunking down a $125 tuition fee, MYART students undergo a four-month training program that includes weekly workshops in dance, acting, voice projection and singing, as well as the use of stage makeup and costumes. Students are divided by age and experience; more seasoned students are assigned as advisers to newcomers to enhance a sense of teamwork.

As youngsters progress through the program, Hanstein and her staff make note of individual strengths and guide them into appropriate roles. But even at casting time, democracy comes into play. If, for example, an actor feels he or she was miscast, or was passed over for a coveted role, the youth can “challenge” Hanstein for the part by rehearsing and re-auditioning for it at a later date.

“I give them as fair an opportunity as I can, considering the alternative of just casting 20 kids and cutting out the rest,” said Hanstein, who patterned her group after the larger First Artist Children’s Theatre, and who once served as executive director of its subsidiary, the Greater Los Angeles Children’s Theatre.

To add to the talent pool, and to provide role models for the younger actors, Hanstein regularly casts adult actors. Cal State Long Beach theater students are often featured, thanks to an alliance formed by CSULB grad Hanstein that provides teaching, designing and performing opportunities for students in exchange for rehearsal and performance space. Even moms and dads are occasionally drafted (“it’s the perfect cure for the pushy stage parent,” quipped Hanstein), although their work tends to be more behind the scenes, coordinating everything from publicity to crowd control at rehearsals.

The MYART program, which draws nearly two-thirds of its enrollment from Orange County, has grown so quickly that Hanstein elected to present two productions instead of one in the spring slot: Students in grades K through 6 will appear in “Charlie Brown”; “Grease” will feature actors in junior high school and up. A fall run of “The King and I” will combine both age groups.

The company is growing geographically as well. In March, Hanstein and her volunteers launched a MYART program in Hayward and hope to start a similar program in Seattle “a few years up the road,” with long-range plans to establish it on a national basis.

What: “Grease” and “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown,” by MYART.

When: “Grease” runs Thursday, June 4, through Sunday, June 7. “Charlie Brown” runs Wednesday, June 10, through June 14.

Where: Studio Theatre, California State University, 1250 Bellflower Blvd., Long Beach.

Whereabouts: From the Garden Grove (22) Freeway, exit at 7th Street and drive south. Turn right on East Campus Drive, and park in lot 7 in front of CSULB theater building.

Wherewithal: Tickets to each play are $7 to $10.

Where to call (310) 494-2985.