FAMILY : ‘Collage’ an Improv Mix of Let’s-Pretend Fun

Want to see a rainmaking machine, a magic bus make a trip to Xanadu and a re-enactment of the Trojan Wars? At Saturday’s performance of “Collage,” a family show at the Lankershim Art Center in North Hollywood, audience members asked just that of Synthaxis Theatre Company members.

And, since this is an improv show, reliant on audience suggestions to create characters, objects and comic scenes, troupe members obliged with varying degrees of success and wit.

Actually, after its gentle opening set piece, Shel Silverstein’s “The Giving Tree,” the troupe expected suggestions more along the lines of “Mighty Morphin Power Rangers” or “Cinderella,” but since only a smattering of adults and no children whatsoever showed up for the Saturday performance--such being the lot of small theater--it gamely adjusted.

The troupe is capable and appealing and the results, while uneven, were entertaining. Active onstage audience participation adds to the “let’s pretend” fun potential for children and parents.

* “Collage,” Lankershim Art Center, 5108 Lankershim Blvd., North Hollywood, Saturdays and Sundays at 2 p.m. through July 23. $8; (213) 877-4726.

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Stories, Music, Puppets and Dance: San Francisco’s Eth-Noh-Tec performing arts duo, Robert Kikuchi-Yngojo and Nancy Wang, will present “Asian Occasion,” a program of Filipino gong music; dances and stories from Mindanao Island; folk tales, dances and taiko drums from Japan; and stories and bamboo music from Southeast Asia and India, at Barnsdall Art Park’s Gallery Theatre on July 22.

Also on the bill, Gary Jones’ engaging “Blackstreet U.S.A. Puppet Theatre.” Jones, who works solo, presents his remarkable company of 3-foot-tall puppets--Sweet Georgia Brown, Mr. Stomp, Blaze the surfer and Judith (modeled after Alvin Ailey Dance Company member Judith Jamison)--in a musical show.

* “Asian Occasion” and “Blackstreet U.S.A. Puppet Theatre,” Barnsdall Art Park, Gallery Theatre, 4800 Hollywood Blvd., July 22, noon. Free; (213) 485-0709.