On Friday morning, a club-wielding giant chased a slight boy dressed in green on the Chilkat Center stage.

As he swung his club back and forth, the boy weaved and dodged, ducking under the weapon and leaping out of the way.

On the side of the stage, a group of characters looked on, singing, “Fight, Jack, Fight! Fight, Jack, Fight!”

Then a voice called out from in front of the stage.

“Drop the club accidentally, Brandt,” said the play’s director, Stanley Coleman. The singing stopped, and the giant’s heated pursuit of Jack paused. Both looked offstage.

“You got to be sure it doesn’t (look intentional),” Coleman added. “Just drop it accidentally.”

The giant nodded, the chants started up again, and the chase continued. Then, the giant – by accident, it seemed – dropped his club.

Jack and the Giant – played respectively by Eli Asper, 8, and Brandt Alten-Huber, 14, were rehearsing a scene from “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum!,” this summer’s production by the Lynn Canal Community Players’ Summer Youth Theater Conservatory.

The musical retelling of the English folktale of Jack and the Beanstalk was chosen, Coleman said, in a joint decision between him and the Lynn Canal Community Players.

“It has a lot of action,” Coleman said. “The songs are pretty catchy.”

Along with Bill Winkley, the show’s production assistant, Coleman traveled from Eugene, Ore., to direct and produce the performance. This is the pair’s third year running the conservatory.

“It’s a challenging show to do – even more challenging with 30 kids,” Coleman said. (The performance actually has a cast of 33). “Some of the songs are a little bit lengthy and the words are tough for some of the kids.” But, he added, the rehearsals were going “quite well.”

Winkley echoed Coleman’s views. “It’s an amazing cast – double (the number) we had two years ago,” he said. “(The songs) mate beautifully to the storyline.”

Winkley added that the play would not be possible without the help of volunteers, who help with props, set design, and concessions.

Cathy Pashigian, the play’s music director, said that the Summer Youth Theater Conservatory has long-lasting effects on its young performers.

“(They learn) confidence, listening to each other, learning to speak in front of people,” said Pashigian, who has been involved in the performances for seven or eight summers.

“Kids who have gone through the summer conservatory, a lot of them go into theater,” she said. “It’s very fruitful.”

Performances of “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum!” will be preceded by two skits, written and directed by members of the conservatory. There also will be a performance by the Playmakers, children ages 7 and younger, who are enrolled in the program.

Eli Asper said he is excited to be playing the lead. “Getting to be the main role of the play – I’m just happy,” he said. Normally, he added, “I’m not very important.”

Asper, who had a smaller role in last summer’s play, said there is a downside to the limelight. “I never get time to sit down and rest. I’m going to keep doing plays, but I don’t want to be the main guy in every single play.”

Brandt Alten-Huber has different reasons for liking his role as the Giant.

“I like being the big, booming guy,” he said. “And I get to bash stuff.”

Other major roles include Emma Dohrn as Susan, Selby Long as Jack’s mother, Pacific Ricke as Princess Tulip, Emma Gilham as Good Queen Violet, Aurora Alten-Huber as Troll and Matilda Rogers as the housekeeper.

Performances of “Fee, Fi, Fo, Fum!” start 7 p.m. July 22 and 23 at the Chilkat Center.

Tickets go on sale 6:30 p.m. at the box office, and advance tickets are available at the Babbling Book. Tickets are $12 for adults, $7 for children and $35 for families.

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