When A Bunny Attacks

LITTLE ROCK — Josh Blount is just 13.

So is Beck Damron.

Matthew Gates is 14. But when it comes to theater, all of them are wise beyond their years. They’ve all been acting for at least six or seven years.

So when Danny Hobson, director of the Arts Center of the Ozarks production of “Bunnicula,” says “move stage left” or “cheat out,” they know exactly what he means.

It’s a good thing, too, Hobson says. Although “Bunnicula” is a play for children, it’s not as simple to stage as one might think.

For one thing, there’s the singing and dancing done by Alison Stricklen (as Chester the Cat) and Matthew Gates (as Harold the Dog). And then, of course, there’s the vampire bunny, a puppet manned by Sophie Scaccia.

“He always looks alive, even when he’s asleep,” says Stricklen’s mom, Linda Lane, who has spent a lot of hours watching rehearsal. “You won’t believe what a great job Sophie has done.”

“Bunnicula,” the first in this year’s Child’s Play series for young audiences, is the story of two family pets who aren’t sure what to make of the latest addition to the household - a rabbit that sucks the juice out of vegetables at night.

Convinced the bunny is evil, Harold the Dog and Chester the Cat set out to eliminate their competition.

Hobson says he loves the script because it’s “told mainly from the animals’ perspective. This makes for a lot of humorous situations and dialogue between Harold and Chester. I think the two of them have humanlike qualities that allaudiences will relate to and enjoy.”

Although it’s targeted for third- through fifth-graders, Hobson thinks students as young as prekindergarten and adults of all ages will enjoy the show, and his cast agrees.

“I think it’s hilarious for all ages,” says Matthew Gates, a Bentonville home-school student. “Anyone who has ever owned a pet will laugh.”

Matthew got his start as anactor playing the Scarecrow in “The Wizard of Oz” at ACO. Beck Damron was a Munchkin in the same production. Both agree that theater is something they’d like to pursue long term.

Beck is headed for Broadway, he says, but Matthew is torn between backstage work and a career as a biologist.

Alison Stricklen, a juniorin home-school high school from Gravette, has set her sights on movie acting or ballet. And Josh Blount has no idea. But, he says, “this is fun.”

Mom Linda Lane says that’s why it’s worth the hours parents invest in their children’s acting careers.

“All a mom wants is to make her child happy,” she says. “Doing this, Alison is completely happy.”