Children bring 'Bookshop' to life

A Children’s Theatre of the Mesilla Valley (ACT) has four public performances and four school performances of “The Enchanted Bookshop” coming up at Rio Grande Theatre (RGT), 211 N. Main St.

Public performances are 7 p.m. Fridays, Oct. 20 and 27; and 1 p.m. Saturdays, Oct. 21 and 28.

Tickets to the public performances are $10 online, and $12 at the door.

Performances for schools are 9:45 a.m. and noon Fridays, Oct. 20 and 27.

The production has two casts, each comprised of 20 actors, ages 6-20. Red cast performances are directed by Jazmin Buchman and Delaney Sivils. Green cast performances are directed by Biano Castro and Sara Biad.

“The Enchanted Bookshop,” was written by Todd Wallinger, who lives in Gilbert, Arizona, and  has written 24 plays with more than 2,300 productions in 21 countries.

“During the day, ‘A Likely Story’ may look like any other used bookstore. But at night, it’s a place where magic happens. That’s when the characters inside the books come alive,” Pioneer Drama Services said about “The Enchanted Bookshop.”

Six of the characters, Dorothy Gale (think “The Wizard of Oz”), Robin Hood, Pollyanna, Sherlock Holmes, Heidi and Tom Sawyer, “long to help Margie, the scatterbrained (bookshop) owner, save her struggling store. But they’re not allowed to leave the building or be seen by human eyes. So when a pair of smugglers comes looking for a stolen necklace hidden inside one of the books, the characters are torn. Should they warn Margie and risk disappearing forever? Or can they find a way to defeat the crooks without being seen?”

“Hocus Pocus” shadow cast

ACT will present the movie “Hocus Pocus” with a live shadow cast at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 28, at RGT.

Tickets are $10 online and at the door.

For tickets, visit www.riograndetheatre.org/rio-grande-theatre-calendar-2.

Also visit www.achildrenstheatre.org and toddwallinger.blogspot.com.