VALDOSTA – Holding her baby brother close, Masha agrees to take an apple from the apple tree. 

She takes a bite of the apple then hides behind the tree from the approaching geese that want to abduct her and her brother.

Safe, Masha steps out from behind the apple tree. She hands the apple back to the tree.

Stop. 

Melba Miller who plays Masha and Jaden Jackson who plays the apple tree stop on the stage of Sawyer Theatre in the Valdosta State University Fine Arts Building.

Dr. Melissa R. Porterfield called the halt to rehearsal.

“Don’t hand the apple back to the tree,” Porterfield says to Miller. “It’s weird.”

Instead, Miller conceals the apple in her costume while she’s hiding behind the tree and departs with no sign of the apple in sight.

“That’s better,” Porterfield says.

She should know better and weird in this play.

She wrote “Skazki: Three Russian Fairytales” with her husband, Dr. Chip Crane, specifically for the annual VSU Theatre & Dance children’s production.

The show features “original adaptations of classic Russian fairytales designed to spark the imaginations of the young and the young at heart,” according to a VSU Theatre synopsis. “Audiences will be transported into the magical worlds of these classic tales filled with brave heroes and heroines, enchanted creatures and fearsome villains.”

Porterfield, who is directing the show, said she and Crane wanted a play that features young girls in the chief roles. Two of the adapted fairytales feature girls in the lead roles and the third one features a boy. The three fairytales are framed around a Babushka, a Russian grandmother, telling the stories to her granddaughter.

In the story featuring Miller as Masha, parents have left the young girl in charge of watching her baby brother while they are away. However, geese steal the baby for Baba Yaga, the Russian witch. Masha must find her brother and save him.

Porterfield and Crane create a lively script. The framing of a grandmother telling the stories to a grandchild coupled with a series of fairytales give “Skazki” a “Princess Bride” vibe. The show includes plenty of humor and should be fun and appropriate for adults and children.

As with all fairytales, there are lessons to be learned but Porterfield and Crane do not hit audiences over the head with any preachy Aesopian morals, at least not in the story of Masha. Instead, audiences can take what they will from “Skazki.”

The show has two public performances and will “tour” area schools. Traditionally, the VSU Theatre children’s play goes to several elementary and middle schools throughout South Georgia and North Florida. The pandemic has changed the live tours. Instead, the production is being filmed and a streaming link is being offered to area classrooms, Porterfield said.

VSU Theatre & Dance production of “Skazki: Three Russian Fairytales” is scheduled to play 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 4, and 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 5, Sawyer Theatre, VSU Fine Arts Building, corner of Oak and Brookwood. More information: Call (229) 333-5973 or visit www.valdosta.edu/comarts. 

THE CAST: Hananel Mavity, Jolie Desruisseau, Ciara Hockstra, Walker Hayes, Emily Grace Brooks, Eriana Jones, Jaden Jackson, Melba Miller, Taylor Parris, Marcus McGhee, James “Drew” Chunn, Abby Gill.

DIRECTION, PRODUCTION: Dr. Melissa Rynn Porterfield, director/playwright; Dr. Chip Crane, playwright; Rhyonna Dewey, makeup design; Ruth A. Brandvik, lighting design, and scenic & projection design; Chandler E. Percy, costume design; Samuel Douglas, stage manager; Sarah Liffick, technical director.