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�If you forget a word, hiss� Mail Tribune / Jim Craven J. Marie Williams, a director with the Missoula Children�s Theatre, has less than a week to get 60 local kids ready for Saturday�s production of "The Wiz of the West" at the Craterian. Here, she works on hissing and scary faces with the children cast as spiders. Children�s theater helps 60 kids prepare to present musical By Bill Varble The thing about being a spider is, you have to stick your arms out so people can see the eight legs you have in that tarantula costume. J. Marie Williams is explaining this to 16 little kids on the stage of the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater. "OK," she says. "Go to your spider spots." Sixteen small pairs of legs go to 16 assigned spots on the stage, no muss, no fuss. "Scary faces," Williams implores. "And whenever you move, you hiss. "If you forget a word, hiss." So goes the first rehearsal for "The Wiz of the West." If you go "The Wiz of the West" will be presented at 3 p.m. and 7 p.m. Saturday at the Craterian Ginger Rogers Theater in Medford. Admission is $7 (adults) and $5 (children 1-12). Call 779-3000. Registration is open for auditions for "Sleeping Beauty" to be held 9:30-noon Aug. 15. Performances are at 3 and 7 p.m. Aug. 19. Call 779-3000 to register. Williams, an actor/director with the Missoula Children�s Theatre of Missoula, Mont., is on a mission: Get 60 local kids ready to present a full-scale musical comedy by Saturday with Craterian Performances Company in Medford. More than 200 youngsters turned up at the Craterian Monday morning for a casting call. Some 60 were chosen. "The Wiz of the West" will be presented Saturday, complete with costumes, scenery, props and makeup. Another play with local kids, "Sleeping Beauty," will be presented Aug. 15. Williams, a 1999 theater graduate of the University of Arizona, and fellow actor C. Brandon Weis, are in one of the touring teams that have been putting on plays around the country since 1970 using local children as actors. They�re working this week with Rogue Valley young people from kindergarten age through high school. The theater�s motto is "helping kids reach a new stage." "We push �em hard," Williams says on a break. "No one tells these kids they can�t do it." Rachel Arappagis, 5, of Medford, is working on her character�s (a spider) motivation. "Spiders are bad � and good," she says. "They eat flies." These spiders, though, are strictly good guys. "The Wiz of the West" is basically the story of "The Wizard of Oz" with a twist, or maybe a twister. Think of it as a fairy tale with twang. It�s a Western melodrama about the adventures of Dottie, her little dog Mooch, and her three companions � Tinhorn, Lionel and Scared Crow. The gang tangles with Mad Dog�s gang of bad hounds working for the meanest old witch in the West, Hawknose Halley. In the course of the adventure they come up against brainless buzzards (which replace the evil monkey minions of the movie) and terrifyin� tarantulas, which is where our spiders come in (hint: they cotton to hombres that don�t put them down). Dottie�s quest is for Dr. Ozzy, the Wizard of frontier medicine. She gets a hand from Ma and Pa Munch and the rest of the Munch Kin. Along the way there�s a big musical number with our diminutive arachnids. The queen spider is Leslie Lerback, 9, of Eagle Point. In the dance segment, she�s to lead the other spiders around the stage, spin about a couple of times and wind up on her mark. "It�s not confusing," she says. "Not really." The Missoula Children�s Theatre has had almost 48,000 young people perform in all 50 states and seven countries (go to www.mctinc.org ) over the years. To give more kids a chance, those with parts in "The Wiz of the West" aren�t eligible for "Sleeping Beauty." Is it hard to whip so many kids into shape for a full-scale show in less than a week? Williams says there�s only one hard part: "Saying good-bye to the kids when it�s over." Obituaries | Sports | Business | Classifieds | Tempo | Prime Times | So Oregon Sites | Outdoor Journal | Subscribe | Contact | Movies | Advertise | Real Estate Showcase | Archive | Editorials | Letters to the editor | Religion | Wake-up Call | NIE | Cyber Chef | Job Network | So Oregon Weather | WSJ Northwest | Forums | AP Wire | AP Money | F.A.Q. | Awards Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. The Community Newspaper Subsidiary of Dow Jones & Co, Inc Copyright �The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA