Kids: Flutter By for a Butterfly

There are hundreds of things to capture the imagination at the Orange County Imagination Celebration, but one really takes flight: a butterfly in a box.

As part of the festival, children get to take home a cocoon in a Chinese food take-out box and, after the butterfly emerges, they are invited to bring it back to the Santa Ana Zoo and release it inside the butterfly cage.

The two-week festival, opening Saturday, features events throughout the county. Activities include theater, dance, painting, a cartoon workshop and even a gory make-over.

The 15th Annual Orange County Imagination Celebration--this edition called “Tapestry 2000”--is presented by the Orange County Performing Arts Center and the Orange County Department of Education.

The festival concept was launched by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington in 1986 to reach young people and develop their appreciation for the arts. The Orange County event has become the largest festival of its kind in the Western United States.

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The festivities kick off with the Very Special Arts Festival, showcasing visual and performing arts by people with disabilities.

The opening day also offers the South Coast Repertory’s Youth Players’ performance of “Radio Follies,” a play by Youth Theater Instructor, Steve DeNaut. Described as “a musical romp through the early days of radio,” the play follows a group of neighborhood children who decide to create a mystery radio show. The humor-filled play, inspired by 1920s Our Gang movies, charts the obstacles and bickering the kids go through before finally putting their show on-air. The play will be performed at the Bowers Kidseum at 1:30 p.m.

“We encourage parents to tell their kids to put down the Game Boy . . . and spend some time” at the festival, said Daniel Stekol, the festival’s executive director.

The twin focus of the festival, which runs through May 14, is entertainment and education.

“The arts sometime gets put to the wayside, so celebration is important . . . to showcase children’s talents,” Stekol said, adding that the educational aspect is particularly important at a time when many schools have scaled back their arts teaching.

One educational event takes place aboard the Pride of Newport--a stern-wheeler riverboat anchored in Newport Harbor--and is designed to teach environmental awareness through art and crafts workshops.

One highlight of the festival is the world premiere of “Two Thousand Steps!!,” a performance choreographed by Loretta Livingston. The Orange County Performing Arts Center commissioned Livingston to create the full-length ballet especially for the celebration. The ballet charts the development of modern dance; its premiere is May 12 at Segerstrom Hall.

There will also be a performance of Moliere’s satire “Tartuffe” on May 4 at the Academy for the Performing Arts at the Huntington Beach High School.

Children interested in taking the stage themselves should appear at the Santa Ana Zoo on May 6, when a theater group will perform an interactive version of “Jungle Book” and invite the audience to take on the roles of some of the animal characters in the story.

This event, as most others, is free--a priority for the organizers.

This year, more than 60 arts and educational groups have helped organize the festival and more than 2,000 people have volunteered their time.

BE THERE

Orange County Imagination Celebration, Saturday through May 14 at locations throughout the county. Most events are free. See schedule of events on next page.