Spinning Tales Under Stars

Flying eyeballs, simpletons, evil stepmothers and gecko spit--these unlikely ingredients are the recipe for a delightful surprise--Occidental College’s Children’s Theater Project’s summer show, “Cinderella’s Beach Blanket Hullabaloo,” playing weekends through August.

This imaginative original work, a compilation of three tales from different cultures, plus one very original “Cinderella,” was conceived and directed by professional director Jamie Angell.

Performed outdoors in the round by a talented youthful ensemble, the show comes to witty life under Angell’s crisp control.

You might wonder where the magic is when you first glimpse the no-frills seating and notice the performance space--a shabby rug outside the college’s hillside amphitheater. But once the show starts, you won’t miss the trimmings.

With the first story, a Northern Cheyenne tall tale called “Doing a Trick With Eyeballs,” about a boastful man who ends up chastened and with peculiar vision after a disastrous encounter with an old medicine man, it’s clear that these actors know how to entertain.

The ensemble--Jim Cashman IV, Angela Kang, Amber Lopez, Nikki Luke, Ann Reed and Ken Zinn--keep things moving, literally tumbling in and out of scenes and using their agile bodies to create sets and props, from doors and tables to ocean waves and orange trees. They play a variety of human characters and animals, too, from a gecko to a buffalo (a three-actor job).

The assured physical movement is complemented by the stories’ cleverness and ample humor. Except for the impressively executed “Magic Orange Tree,” a somewhat bittersweet tale from Haiti about a little girl whose wicked stepmother gets her comeuppance thanks to citrus intervention, comedy is the key ingredient here.

In addition to the wacky Haitian eyeball story, “The Three Simpletons,” from the Southwest, is a giggle and the title piece, a wonderfully inventive beach movie/fairy tale combo, is a hoot, with a beach bunny Cinderella, a sand-obsessed stepmother, a dance-crazy magic carpet and a body-surfing contest to take the place of the glass slipper bit.

* “Cinderella’s Beach Blanket Hullabaloo,” Occidental College, Hillside Amphitheatre area, 1600 Campus Road, today, 10:30 a.m. Regular schedule: Thursdays-Saturdays, 10:30 a.m. through Aug. 29. $6 per adult; $3 per child; groups of more than 25, $2.50 per person. (213) 259-2922.

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Join the Circus: Mellow, live, jazzy music, a funnybone-tickling free show with a message, circus skills workshops at intermission and a second, audience-participatory show: That’s the formula that has made San Francisco’s one-ring Make-a-Circus a summertime favorite.

This year’s show is “The Great Big Rainbow Tent,” about an “Exile” from another land who wants to join a circus company, but “clashes with the rest of the circus performers,” said company spokesperson Laurie Stuhlbarg, “because his clothes and customs are so different.” Gradually, the “Exile” makes friends.

Everyone--even parents--can participate in circus skills workshops and be part of the show’s second act.

* Make-a-Circus, today, 12:30 p.m.: MacArthur Park, 1321 Anaheim St., Long Beach. Friday, 12:30 p.m.: Glorietta Bay Park, 1975 Strand Way, Coronado; Saturday, 6:30 p.m.: Pearson Park Amphitheatre, 400 N. Harbor Blvd., Anaheim (714) 254-4274; Sunday, 1 p.m.: Wilson Park, 2200 Crenshaw Park, Torrance, (310) 618-2999. Monday, 12:30 p.m.: Lou Costello Jr. Youth Center, 3141 E. Olympic Blvd. Free. Make-a-Circus’ San Francisco office: (415) 242-1414.