Marcella is a nice, normal little girl who likes to play with her toys.

But when she leaves her bedroom, extraordinary things happen. Her toy clown, her dolls and Teddy bears, tiny soldiers and robots blink their eyes, sit up and come to life.

They talk, walk, dance and sing. And, with rag doll siblings Raggedy Ann and Andy as their leaders, they end up getting sucked into a wild adventure.

This weekend, the Sheridan Arts Foundation Young People’s Theatre will present “The Adventures of Raggedy Ann and Andy,” a play that reminds the viewer that anything can happen in the boundless world of imagination.

“It’s so action-y and so much fun,” said Bailey Niebrugge, who plays Fido.

The play starts at 6 p.m. on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights at the Sheridan Opera House.

The play features almost 30 local kids, grades three through five, dancing, singing, and dressed up as … awww … toys.

Not to undermine the acting prowess of the cast, but they’re aren’t many things cuter than kids dressed as a monkey with cymbols, a cowboy, a stuffed lion, GI Joe, giraffe, rag dolls and a Lego man.

Director Jen Julia adapted the play from the original story, adding songs, dancing and action to Johnny Gruelle’s classic tale.

“I love the idea of kids playing toys, because I just think that it’s so fun to be a group of classic toys that we’re all familiar with that get to come to life and then be still. I just really love this concept,” Julia said.

The story starts in Marcella’s bedroom, where the audience meets Marcella’s toys, who believe theirs is the best little girl in the whole world.

Raggedy Andy, one of the more adventurous in the gang, tells the toys about his trip over to the neighbors’ house, a dangerous realm where the toys don’t have such a rosy existence. Their owners, Bucky and Tracy, cast all sorts of abuse and neglect on their toys, shooting them with potato guns, drawing on them, cutting their hair and letting their mean dog Butch chew them up.

Marcella’s toys agree that they’ve got it pretty good.

But then Marcella’s birthday comes, and with it, an unexpected surprise. She gets a pair of gorgeous, smooth-skinned porcelain dolls named Fifi and Gabrielle. They are pretty and fabulous in their dresses and slippers. But they are also snotty, rude and contemptuous of the other toys, promising that the others will be forgotten forever at the bottom of the toy box.

Their arrival sets off a wild turn of events that involved Bucky and Tracy, their mutilated toys, dogs, chase scenes, people getting tied up and, finally, lessons learned.

Audrey Koenig, who plays the hilarious Fifi, said the story’s message is “to just, like, treat people how you want to be treated.”

Julia elaborated: “I think the moral of the story is about self-acceptance and acceptance of others, and the power of positive thinking and being nice.”

But aside from all that heavy stuff, it’s also a fun and entertaining time.

“I love it, said James McKernan, who plays a soldier, and pulls off an impressive tap dance. “It’s funny and it has a lot of action in it.”

Erica Lindauer nails is as Raggedy Ann, while Preston Hughes is Andy, and Olivia Farnsworth is Marcella. Griffin Mueller is Monkey, TJ Fulton is Robot, Coco Pryor is Nurse and Hannah Reich is Barbie. Mikaela Balkind is Teddy Bear, Michael Fortenberry is Clown, and Max Dwight is Lion. Benni Solomon and Olivia Wheaton are really funny as Bucky and Tracy, and their dog, Butch, is played by Connor Overly. Chandler Hughes is Lego Man, Tagart Mueller is Cowboy, Chloe Graham is Gabrielle, Matt Palamar is GI Joe, Meghan Mazzocchi is Unicorn, Sam Finger is Little Red Riding Hood, Ben Potter is Dinosaur and Cameron Schroeder is Giraffe. Madie Alexander, Madison Stevens, Jacob Nelson, Karsten Graham and Aidan Green play soldiers.
Tickets are $12 for parents, $10 for children 12 and under, and free for lap children.
They are available at the Opera House box office or by calling 728-6363.