Valley Weekend : KIDS : Chocolate Troupe Gives Kids a Sweet Taste of Stage Life : A North Hills woman has launched her own program to give youths a positive self-image by mastering theater skills.

Children and chocolate.

For Maria Fernanda Duarte Bononi, there couldn’t be a sweeter combination.

Two years ago, Duarte Bononi formed a children’s theater company and called it Chocolate. The 25-year-old North Hills resident admits the name evolved from her attraction to the dark, addictive confection.

But Duarte Bononi also said the satisfaction she feels from transforming restless kids into disciplined performance artists is better than any chocolate she has ever tasted.

“In Argentina where I am from, I always worked with children,” said Duarte Bononi, who began her career in the performing arts writing and producing children’s plays when she was 13. As a young artist, she remembers the excitement of expressing her imagination in front of an audience.

Duarte Bononi said she would like to extend the same opportunities from her youth to other kids, especially those who are shy or have problems communicating at home.

“I think children are so magical,” she said. “There’s a lot of children with problems, and they shouldn’t be going through that. But in here, it’s like they are free. “

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On Thursday evenings, Duarte Bononi greets her students at the Argentine Assn. of Los Angeles in Burbank. It’s the one day of the week when kids can walk inside the center and let their imaginations run free. They can pretend to be detectives, move their bodies to the rhythm of Abba’s “Dancing Queen” and Deep Forest’s “Sweet Lullaby,” or sit around the small stage and make up reasons why they believe Snow White’s stepmother was so mean.

It’s also a place where parents are not allowed. “When they see a parent around, they get shy,” said Duarte Bononi of her students. She sets few rules for the kids and urges parents to wait outside.

“If [the children] are talking and expressing themselves, I just let them,” she said. “I don’t want them to continue school in here. I don’t want to put pressure on them.”

In her workshops, Duarte Bononi teaches youths from ages 4 through 12 how to express themselves through nonverbal movement and role-playing. With the help of puppets, games, stories and music that plays continuously throughout class, the children learn basic performance art skills such as improvisation, problem solving, voice projection and theater history.

Most of all, Duarte Bononi hopes the kids gain a positive self-image through the workshops as well as learn more about pursuing their individual talents.

For Rogelia Rincon, the difference she sees in her daughter Ana Maria before and after Chocolate is worth the drive from Van Nuys into Burbank. Rincon said 6-year-old Ana Maria hid behind her mother’s skirt the first time she was brought to the workshop.

“She was very timid,” said Rincon, who learned about the classes through a friend from church. “She didn’t like to talk to anybody.”

Four visits later, however, Rincon says Ana Maria urges her to get her to classes on time. Best of all, says Rincon, Ana Maria has become fond of dancing, even in front of others.

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At first, Duarte Bononi said she encouraged youths exclusively from the Latino communities because she noticed few programs that catered to kids who only spoke Spanish. As the mother of two small children, Duarte Bononi noticed that the Spanish language television offered little in the way of programming for kids.

“I see that it’s very hard for the Spanish,” said Duarte Bononi. “I saw that there was nothing for Spanish children, not even in television.”

Though she welcomes all youth interested in joining Chocolate, Duarte Bononi speaks both English and Spanish to the students. The kids usually put on a mostly pantomime performance at the end of the workshop’s 15-week session.

At the moment she is enjoying the success she and her theater company have achieved.

She is preparing her class of 20 for an appearance this fall on “En Perspectiva,” a Spanish cable show that highlights local talent. The children will apply their own makeup, create their own costumes and perform pantomime on the program.

“They have a lot of beautiful things in their minds,” said Duarte Bononi of her students, “But we have to help them. It’s wonderful when you can open the door.”

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DETAILS

* WHAT: Chocolate Children’s Theater Company for children 4 through 12.

* LOCATION: Argentine Assn. of Los Angeles, 2100 N. Glenoaks Blvd., Burbank.

* HOURS: Ongoing classes from 5:30 to 7 p.m. Thursdays.

* PRICE: $20 a month.

* CALL: (818) 892-2235.