RELATED EVENTS

• The Wiz
• A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant

"A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant" plays through Aug. 16 at Theatre on the Square. (Frank Espich / The Star)

Paeton Chavis, who plays Addaperle, the Good Witch of the North in the American Cabaret Theatre production of "The Wiz," performs with Munchkins, from left, Donovan Long, Deaon Smith and Anthony Boler during an opening week rehearsal. (Charlie Nye / The Star)

Dancers rehearsing for "The Wiz" at ATC include (from left) Abby Grenda, Robert Kingery, Meridith Keller, TJ Wilson, Deaon Smith and Kelsey Breece.(Charlie Nye / The Star)

A young L. Ron Hubbard (right, played by Claire Cassidy, 10,) listens to a Buddhist monk (Zachary Earls, 9) in "Scientology Pageant" at Theatre on the Square. (Frank Espich / The Star)

Director Bob Harbin gives instructions to young cast members of "The Wiz" at American Cabaret Theatre. (Charlie Nye / The Star)

Allan Washington plays the Scarecrow in "The Wiz." ACT is staging it as a family show with some elements toned down. (Charlie Nye / The Star)

Once upon a time, young people's theater in Indianapolis dwelled mainly in the land of fables and fairy tales.

In recent years, some Central Indiana theaters have continued to present traditional stories like "The Pied Piper" and "Jack and the Beanstalk."

But theater performed by, or geared toward youth has been growing up. Fairy tales and morality plays now share the stage with scripts that are a whole lot sassier and more profound than youth productions used to be.

Three local youth-theater productions this weekend offer an edge and sophistication that was rare a generation ago:

Tonight, Theatre on the Square opens "A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant," a complex comic drama with music, created by 8-to-12-year-olds. It's a nativity story, with an angel announcing the birth of an influential religious leader. But rather than Jesus Christ, Moses or Buddha, it's L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the controversial Church of Scientology.

Through Aug. 17, American Cabaret Theatre will perform "The Wiz," featuring a multiracial cast of performers in their teens and 20s. Based on the L. Frank Baum story and the 1939 movie "The "Wizard of Oz," "The Wiz" retained the story of a simple girl who traveled to a fantasy kingdom in order to return home to Kansas and help her friends. But the show created a sensation when an African-American cast opened on Broadway in 1975.

And through Sunday, Summer Stock Stage at Park Tudor School will present "Urinetown: The Musical," which was provocative even when a mainstream professional playhouse, the Phoenix Theatre, staged it in 2005. Set in a city that charges citizens for bathroom privileges due to a water shortage, "Urinetown" comments on individual rights and satirizes musical theater.

Ron Spencer, 61, the executive artistic director of Theatre on the Square, said that when he was growing up in Indianapolis, young people's theater generally "was all mindless. It was about how cute kids were while playing Peter Pan or gingerbread people."

Spencer, who went to Warren Central High School, said such shows generally "lacked substance," yet he still was stage-struck when he was cast in "Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates" at age 14.

"It was wonderful," he said. "It spoke to me even at that tender age. Hans had to sell his skates to get money for groceries and doctor bills for his father. My mother had been through the very same thing Mrs. Brinker was going through."

Bob Harbin, 56, artistic director of ACT and a graduate of Speedway High School, said that when he was growing up, "We had to do the classics -- stuff written and produced by and for adults. I remember being in 'Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.' I was the villain of the piece. I got to sleep on big pillows. At one performance, I actually fell asleep at intermission."

With "The Wiz," and last year's production of "High School Musical," Harbin has been trying "to keep the interest high with young people. I think that young people today are demanding to perform in shows that may have some sort of relevance to their lives, and we really want to get people talking.

"'The Wiz' was certainly pushing the envelope with social issues in the '70s, and it still gives us something to talk about in terms of the difference between black and white society in Indianapolis and anywhere else."

Stephen Koch, who is playing the Lion in "The Wiz," thinks the younger actors "give a larger-than-life, over-the-top quality to the piece." Koch said because "The Wiz" is targeted for families, its more adult concepts -- such as the drug allusions in the poppy field scene -- have been toned down.

Spencer said that the "Scientology Pageant" is "certainly a change for children, and as a director you can imagine that one of my challenges is making sure they are aware that this is a parody of L. Ron Hubbard's life, and that it's poking fun at Scientology."

Ten-year-old Claire Cassidy of Fishers, who plays Hubbard, said that, while "there are some silly parts to the play," Hubbard "is pretty serious....... I don't believe in Scientology, but I understand what the play says."

Assistant director Alvin Sangsuwangul agreed that the young actors seem to understand "Scientology Pageant," despite its complexity. In fact, Sangsuwangul said, today's youth productions are simply "reflecting the times."

"Kids are trying to be grown up today at 10 or 11."

What's coming

Here are selected theatrical offerings coming up, featuring or targeted to include young audiences:

"A Very Merry Unauthorized Children's Scientology Pageant"

Today through Aug. 16, Theatre on the Square, 627 Massachusetts Ave. 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays, $20-$25, (317) 685-8687, www.tots.com.

"The Wiz"

Through Aug. 17, American Cabaret Theatre, 401 E. Michigan St. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays, 3 p.m. Sundays, $15, (317) 631-0334, www.actindy.org.

"Urinetown: The Musical"

Through Sunday, Summer Stock Stage, Park Tudor School, 7200 N. College Ave. 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday, $15, www.tix.com, www.summerstockstage.com.

"As You Like It"

6:30 p.m. Aug. 15, A one-hour adaptation of the Shakespeare comedy, City Center Children's Theatre. West Park, 2700 W. 116th St., Carmel, free, (317) 705-9954, www.thec3t.org.

"Fiddler on the Roof Junior"

8 p.m. today, Saturday and Aug. 1 and 2 and 2:30 p.m. July 27 and Aug. 3. Buck Creek Players, 11150 Southeastern Ave., $11-$13, (317) 862-2270, www.buckcreekplayers.com.