There has not been much theatre for kids in PEC — at best performances for adults that kids might enjoy, such as CountyStage’s production of The 39 Steps in 2023, which also made excellent use of the outdoor stage at The Eddie Hotel and Farm. But if new artistic director Heather Braaten gets her way, that is about to change. This year’s Snow White, its high energies directed with aplomb by first-timer Cara Rebecca, is a model of the way ahead. While the production has kids squarely in its sights, adults will truly enjoy it as well, not least to marvel at the sheer verve of the actors in this unlikely two-hander.

The play opens with Snow sitting solo on stage. She begins to sing a familiar Disney refrain to herself, only to be interrupted repeatedly and told “nobody is here yet.”

The dwarves and the Huntsman have yet to arrive to put on the play. They never do. Instead, as Snow White assures the actor who will end up playing all seven of them, the show must go on. “Look at all these nice people sitting here!”

This scene draws in a young audience without putting them on the spot. It tells them something special, even collaborative, is about to happen. And what follows does not disappoint.

Together Breanna Maloney (Snow White, the Wicked Queen) and Lindsay Middleton (The Huntsman, the Mirror, a bunch of Dwarves) put on a manic, frantic, hilarious Snow White full of inventive role exchanges. Ms. Maloney moves seamlessly from playing Snow to her stepmother and back again. This gifted actress, who crafts a captivating princess, innocent and earnest and clever, can convey a complete character shift with a single haughty eyebrow. No costume change required.

Ms. Middleton, meanwhile, is an elastic comic. She channels a kind of subterranean energy that seems to come directly from the much maligned, forest-dwelling dwarves, who are rescued in this production — it is the Prince who is sent packing in the end.

The outdoor set is minimal — a few wooden chairs, a square frame for a mirror. The costumes are rudimentary — a purple scarf for the Queen, a doublet for the hunter, a single cap for all the dwarves, worn on, off, backward, in hand, etc. Only Snow herself gets a proper, Disney-esque outfit, with a laced bodice and a full, yellow skirt.  When the time comes, it doubles perfectly as the Prince’s gold cloak, nicely suggesting an overlap in the parts of prince and princess.

The production, in short, suggests two children acting out the story with what they can find in an old clothes chest. It showcases the vivid imagination and sharp mimicry one associates with kids, as well as family life, not least in the way Snow might be taken to be impersonating her stepmother, the Evil Queen, demanding to know which one is the fairest of them all.

The script, which explores the idea of playing parts and taking on roles, is ingenious, and its actors not just highly accomplished, but heroic in their commitment. I attended a manic 90-minute matinee performed non-stop under blazing sun. And yet, with their threadbare costumes and bare bones set, when the actors had Snow out in the rain and cold of the deep, dark forest, the entire audience was right there with her. Excellent sound effects only amplified the sense of immersion. 

This production is another not-to-be-missed feat from County Stage. It insists that professional theatre is about brave, risk-taking, inventive energy. Addressed to kids, it celebrates what it is to be young.