Exploring the Dark, Grimm Side of Snow White : Stage: The fairy tale heroine gets de-Disneyfied in ‘White as Snow, Red as Blood,’ opening tonight in Laguna Beach.

According to Christopher Finch’s book “The Art of Walt Disney,” in the three years it took to develop the animated version of “Snow White,” Disney conceived of and scrapped dozens of dwarf personas before settling on the seven who came to be so well known.

As with the final picks, the discarded dwarfs carried names descriptive of their personalities or physical characteristics. There were Gabby and Flabby, Graceful and Gloomy, Jaunty and Strutty, the presumably asthmatic Gaspy.

Though these and dozens of others found their way only to the scrapheap, they were good indicators of what eventually emerged: bumbling but mostly well-intentioned characters who take Snow White under their collective wing and look over her even after her apparent death--a role they happily chuck when a handsome and much taller prince arrives to revive the dear girl and carry her off to his castle in the best happily-ever-after tradition.

An admitted softie for classic stories, Joe Lauderdale, director of the Laguna Playhouse’s Youth Theatre program, says he has no quarrel with Disney’s approach, but it’s just not his style. And he’s betting that with tonight’s opening of Virginia Glasgow Koste’s “White as Snow, Red as Blood,” audiences will agree that staying true to the fairy tale’s original--and darker--text brings its own rewards. The second in the Youth Theatre’s season, the show features 16 actors aged 10 to 16 and three adults. Performances will continue through Feb. 19 in the Moulton Theater.

“It’s impossible to compete with any aspect of a Disney animated film,” Lauderdale says, “and I was attracted to this script because I felt it was just the opposite (of the animated version). It stays much closer to the Brothers Grimm story, rather than making it cutesy.”

Take the dwarfs, for instance. “This is not a comic play, although there are some humorous moments,” Lauderdale explains. “The dwarfs are not comical little bumbling characters at all. They’re a brotherhood, close to nature and possessing not necessarily mystical powers but the powers of the earth.

“They work as one, and are harmonious with Mother Nature. Even their names (Earthen, Kindred etc.) are of their earth.”

If the dwarfs aren’t familiar, the basic story line should be. The title is borrowed from a line Snow White’s mother uses before the child’s birth, describing some attributes she hopes her child will possess: skin as white as snow, lips as red as blood and hair as black as ebony.

In this play, as in the original story, the queen mother dies in childbirth and the king remarries, this time to a scheming, vain woman who goes by the name of Evilun (emphasis on Evil). Obsessed with her appearance, Evilun surrounds herself with mirrors, particularly a magic one that assures her daily that she is the fairest in the land.

Or was. Seven years after Snow White’s birth and shortly after the death of her father, the child is brought to Evilun for the first time. Miffed by the child’s obvious beauty, Evilun orders the huntsman to kill her and to return her heart to the castle as proof. The huntsman softens, tells the child to run for her life and lies to the queen, giving her the heart of a wild animal instead.

In the original, the queen makes a, er, hearty meal of the gift, but Lauderdale says he drew the line on that one. He also cut a scene in which the queen is forced to dance in red-hot iron slippers until she dies, as punishment for her evil doings.

However, Koste’s script retains two elements banished from the Disney film and most American stage versions, according to Lauderdale.

The Brothers Grimm traveled the world collecting stories, and it is believed that this story of Snow White came in part from an Italian story, “Pent Amerone,” about a beautiful child who dies because a poison comb has been stuck in her head.

“Her body was laid to rest in a crystal casket and remained lovely,” says Lauderdale. “Years later, an aunt who was always jealous of her finds the casket and opens it. She drags the girl out by her hair, dislodging the comb, and the girl comes to life.”

*

In this play, after the queen learns that Snow White is not really dead, she disguises herself as a peddler and, finding the girl at home alone, tricks her into wearing a bodice with red laces, which Evilun pulls so tight that she thinks she has suffocated Snow White, and she leaves her for dead. Naturally, the dwarfs arrive in the nick of time to cut the laces and revive her.

The queen plots a second attack, again posing as a peddler, this time selling jewelry. She dupes Snow White into trying a comb with poisoned tips. The girl collapses but again the dwarfs save the day.

To this point, Evilun hasn’t been working alone. “White as Snow” includes another character not seen in the Disney film, that of Her Self, the queen’s reflected image in the mirror. Lauderdale has cast two adults to play the parts.

“Her Self is really the personification of the queen’s conscience,” he says. “She lets the audience know all the thoughts and feelings Evilun has.” Her Self and Evilun are in constant conflict throughout the show, Lauderdale adds. As cold and calculating as Evilun is, Her Self is the more dastardly and scheming character. Indeed, it is her idea to kill Snow White in the first place.

Ultimately, the queen strikes the killing blow with the poisoned apple. Snow White succumbs, and the grieving dwarfs place her in a crystal capsule (in Laguna, it’s plexiglass) until the Handsome Price arrives, places a rose in her still hands and magically revives her. And the rest is fairy tale history.

New to this version is a handful of characters that Lauderdale calls the bunraku. Inspired by figures in Noh theater and Japanese doll theater, the eight characters serve as a combination of stage hands and human set pieces. Dressed head to toe in black, their faces concealed by sheer black material, they deliver props unbidden into the actors’ hands and even serve as the fourth leg of a table. They are integrated to the action in a way that they are seen but not seen, and their presence contributes to the story’s emotional impact.

“The bunraku definitely are a part of the cast,” says Lauderdale. “They are sort of alter egos of the central characters. Sometimes they’re evil, sometimes they’re nurturing, but they are a definite presence.”

Despite such seemingly esoteric touches, Lauderdale feels “White as Snow, Red as Blood” will be accessible to children as young as 5. “They shouldn’t come expecting Disney. It’s a very dark story, but it does have a happy ending and there definitely are ideas about things like growing up, and knowing who to trust, that kids can relate to.”

And if some members of the audience do leave scratching their heads, that’s OK. In fact, Lauderdale prefers it. “I like to do things that require parents to discuss the play with their kids,” he says.

And if the parents have questions?

“They can call me. I’d love to hear what they think.”

* The Laguna Playhouse Youth Theatre production of “White as Snow, Red as Blood” opens tonight at 7:30 at the Moulton Theater, 606 Laguna Canyon Road, Laguna Beach. 7:30 p.m. $7 to $10. Through Feb. 19. Children under 4 not admitted. (714) 494-8022.