A Family of Mice, Toy Soldiers and Kids

The last time Irene Boyd performed in Pasadena, she was a cheerleader at the 1971 Rose Bowl, urging Stanford to a 27-17 win over Ohio State.

Twenty-five years later, she’s a mouse.

Such seeming indignity is actually an honor for Boyd, a 45-year-old Northridge mother of three who plays the part of a mouse in the San Francisco Ballet’s production of “The Nutcracker,” performed at the Pasadena Civic Center through Tuesday.

For Boyd, ballet is now a family affair.

Her three children--Cassidy, Connor and Kristin--also appear in the production.

“They all take ballet, and I kept telling them about how I danced when I was younger,” Boyd said before a recent performance. “When they saw that there were open auditions for this, they said, ‘OK, Mom, let’s go.’ ”

The four play roles quite familiar to fans of the Tchaikovsky ballet. Cassidy, 8, comes out of Mother Ginger’s giant hoop skirt in Act II, and son Connor, 11, is in the same party scene. Kristin, 13, is a member of the red-coated infantry of toy soldiers that in Act I battles the mice--one of whom happens to be her mother. Boyd also plays Lady Coffee in Act II, dressed in ruffles and a coffee-pot hat. All four never appear onstage at the same time.

Kristin, a student at Harvard-Westlake School--her brother and sister attend Sierra Canyon School--said the family has stayed close-knit during the show’s run, which started Dec. 12.

Tickets range from $21 to $61 and are available by calling (213) 480-3232. Performances are scheduled at 7:30 every evening through Tuesday. Daytime performances are scheduled today, Sunday and Monday at 2 p.m. and Tuesday at 11 a.m. Casts vary for remaining performances.