‘Reina’ Tells About Expressing Feelings

What if there were a country where people weren’t allowed to be happy or sad, and another where citizens veered from laughter to woe in an instant? In the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts’ new musical comedy “Reina,” Teatro Para Los Ninos latest educational touring show, children get the message: It’s important to know how to express your feelings and respect the feelings of others.

Performed by a multiethnic cast and written by Desiree and Stefane Zamorano, with music and lyrics by Terry Hastings, the musical is an inclusive mix of English and Spanish, movement, music and dance aimed at grade-school-age children.

“Every concept is repeated in both languages in different ways,” said Carmen Zapata, the foundation’s artistic director. “So a child who is monolingual can understand the show. The idea is that nobody feels left out.”

The show’s theme is important, Zapata said. “Children very often are inhibited and afraid to express what they feel because they’re told, ‘You mustn’t cry, you mustn’t make noise, you mustn’t do this and that,’ so communication is enormously important in this piece.”

But the show’s message is “not just about talking,” she added, “it’s about listening as well.” A lesson for grown-ups too, she noted.

“Reina” will be performed for the general public at the Los Angeles Public Central Library’s Mark Taper Auditorium next Tuesday at 7 p.m.

Free; information: (213) 225-4044.

Fossil Thrills: A new video, “I Dig Fossils,” for ages 5 to 12, captures the magic of exploring the Earth’s abundant past. Fossil experts and paleontologists have their say, but it’s young Sam Saletta, as a boy on a fossil hunt with his dad (Ken Metz), who infuses the film with the thrill of discovery.

Saletta enthusiastically and articulately guides viewers through the language and methods of fossil hunting (with lots of “don’t try this alone” warnings and other safety tips). Tramping over brush and climbing rocky slopes, the pair fill buckets with ordinary-looking rocks from the Mazon Creek fossil treasure trove area in Illinois. Later, the wet rocks are cracked open like eggs to yield delicate fossils of plants and animals millions of years old.

At the end, viewers and parents are directed to books and organizations for further study and hands-on dig information.

* “I Dig Fossils,” Mazon Productions, $19.95; (800) 332-IDIG).

Yo, Romeo: Shakespeare takes the rap--rap music, that is--when a teen-age cast, part of the Save Our Youth theater arts program, presents a hip-hop musical version of “Romeo and Juliet,” at Caltech’s Beckman Auditorium in Pasadena on Saturday at 8 p.m.

Tickets are $15 and $30; (818) 583-8551, (213) 480-3232.