That popular yellow bear and all his friends will come to life tonight and tomorrow to battle the dreaded bath, as the Westminster High School Drama Department presents its fall production, "Winnie the Pooh."
Geared toward 5 -to 10-year-olds, the story is well paced and easy to follow so that even younger children will enjoy the colorfully costumed characters and action.
"The play is about Kanga coming to the forest and giving Piglet a bath and all the animals hate baths," said Susan Bates, who plays Kanga the Kangaroo. "Kanga is the adult and is a neat freak -- she needs everything clean and orderly."
Except that clean and orderly for a pig doesn't work. Piglet does get one bath because Pooh is busy trying to get honey out of a tree when Kanga captures the pig as a playmate for her baby, Roo.
But Pooh saves Piglet from more baths, and the battle against the bath teaches Kanga a lesson.
"At the end she realizes she can't do everything herself and she has her baby to take care of," Miss Bates said.
Ben Berchock plays Pooh. He acknowledged that early in the story, "Pooh is selfish -- all he wants is his honey, but then he snaps out of it and realizes Piglet is being taken for a bath and sacrifices himself and takes Piglet's bath."
Now, that's true friendship, which is a major theme of the story as the animals band together to keep from being bathed.
Drama and English teacher Mary Lou Grout directs the play as part of a community service project for this season.
"I try to do a children's show every three years," Mrs. Grout said. "After the Hospice show, I decided to devote the rest of the season to community service."
"We don't devote enough arts to children," she added. "They don't grow up knowing that theater is a form of recreation."
For the cast, the children's play is more difficult in some ways than adult theater. During rehearsal Wednesday, Mrs. Grout urged the cast members to "be animated -- all the things I tell you not to do in regular theater, you do in children's theater."
Miss Bates noted, "I've found children's theater harder than regular theater because you have to work harder to make it more real. Children are harder critics -- they'll see right through you."
The Drama Club will present "Winnie the Pooh" at 7 p.m. today and tomorrow, plus a 10:30 a.m. show tomorrow. Free refreshments will be served during intermission. Tickets are $2 per person. Information: 848-5050.