Cut away the tulle, and one finds the original “Nutcracker.”

The Bainbridge Performing Arts production of the seasonal favorite, adapted by BPA theater school director Steven Fogell, dispenses with dance to rediscover the original fairy tale written by E.T.A. Hoffmann in the mid-19th century.

“The Nutcracker” tells the tale of a nutcracker given to Clara Stahlbaum by her eccentric uncle Drosselmeier at the family’s annual Christmas Eve party. The party is prelude to the play’s central plot points: Clara’s dream about the magic nutcracker, toys coming to life and an army of evil mice.

“The ending, in this script, reminds us that family and home are most important,” director Shelley Long said.

“When Clara’s asked to imagine the most wonderful thing, first it’s snow and then it’s candy. But on the third try she realizes it’s family.”

BPA’s “Nutcracker” compresses the action into a 20-minute play, inaugurating a new approach to theater school productions that will feature shortened versions of classic stories.

“Children need the sense of accomplishment that comes with presenting a piece on the main stage,” Long said. “With the exception of the summer students, they don’t get to do that.”

Long acknowledges that presenting a play on the main stage is demanding – but in more than a decade of teaching theater, she’s learned that children are capable of rising to that expectation.

The BPA theater students are no exception, even though most have never been in a play.

“For many of these kids, it’s their first theater experience,” Long said, “and that means learning to get on and off-stage, learning about blocking and cues – besides memorizing all the lines. But they can do what you expect them to do.”

Long finds that theater games – like “1,000 ways to get across the room,” for which each child develops and demonstrates a unique mode of locomotion – accelerate learning.

“The games are really key to getting them outside of their comfort zone in class, so that when they’re onstage, they’ll be more acclimated and unafraid,” she said.

Long’s daughter, Ordway fourth-grader Alaina, a veteran of her mother’s productions, says that “1,000 ways to get across the room” is the “most fun game.”

“My favorite way to get across the room is jumping,” said Alaina, who plays both Uncle Drosselmeir and the Mouse King in “Nutcracker.”

Lifelong love

Passing on her love of music and theater to her daughter is a natural extension of Long’s own musical upbringing.

Long says her father didn’t put down his tenor sax until his last stroke three years ago, while her mother still plays the piano and organ that were her career, despite encroaching Alzheimer’s.

“She may not remember me,” Long said. “but she can still play anything.”

Long, who first joined BPA last spring for “Beauty and the Beast,” was a drama student at Oregon State University, where she also studied speech pathology and audiology to work with special needs students.

“I love kids in any capacity,” she said.

When she moved to the island in 1987, Long soon assembled a children’s chorus and wrote and produced an original musical, “Simeon and Anna,” which was performed at the high school.

Since then she has written and produced several children’s musicals, but says “The Nutcracker” has been a particularly memorable experience – both for the young actors and their director.

“It’s been great,” Long said. “Their enthusiasm has been contagious.”

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Bainbridge Performing Arts presents “The Nutcracker,” 5 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Playhouse. BPA’s first- through fourth-grade Theater School production class performs a 20-minute play version of the classic ballet that is suitable for children of all ages.

The performance is free; donations of cash, canned goods or wrapped Christmas toys labeled with age and gender collected at this event will benefit Helpline House clients. The Nutcracker.

Contact the Playhouse at 842-8569 for more information.