Young thespians will take the stage, direct and handle backstage jobs, too, as the Vicksburg Theatre Guild presents its 2012 Fairy Tale Theater performances beginning Thursday.

“Fairy Tale Theater is designed to be a kid-run production, literally,” said Jo Beth Britt, FTT’s coordinator, “though we do have adults that help, and adult supervision. Most of the productions have a student director and apprentice director, and different kids act in each play.”

About 60 young people from 7 to 18 will be participating this year in four different productions: “A Dragon in the Mix,” “Supercomics,” “Rapunzel” and “Darius the Dragon.”

Two dragons showing up onstage in the same season is coincidental, said Britt. “Each of the student directors gets to pick their play.”

Anna Belle Hayes, 9, a rising fourth-grader at St. Francis Xavier Elementary School, plays the “rock and roll dragon” in “A Dragon in the Mix.”

“I like doing the plays,” said Anna Belle. “There’s a lot of work involved. We work on our lines over and over and over.”

A tradeoff is that the kids get to be someone else for a while on stage, playing a role.

“I think what I like about it is sometimes I can get away with having an attitude, which my mom won’t allow,” said Aaron David, 10, flashing a mischievous smile. In his third season with FTT, Aaron is a rising fifth-grader at Porters Chapel Academy and plays Prince Arthur in “A Dragon in the Mix.” “What I don’t like is having to wear makeup. My little brother teases me and tells me I look like a girl.”

With his younger brother Raegan acting with him this year, those makeup cracks might stop.

Aaron is also a pitcher with the Vicksburg All-Stars, and said he might have to miss a tournament game because of the show.

Parent LeTitia Fitzgerald, whose 9-year-old daughter, Kennedi, is in her third year of Fairy Tale Theater, said getting busy kids to rehearsals and performances can be a juggling act. Kennedi plays a princess in “A Dragon in the Mix” and will also be a princess in the Miss Mississippi Pageant, which kicks off in Vicksburg on July 24. She’s attending vacation Bible school, too.

“We had to hot-foot it over here (for rehearsals),” Fitzgerald said. “She’s always on the go.”

The payoff is the training, commitment and community involvement the kids experience, said 18-year-old Oscar Frost, a recent Vicksburg High School graduate who’s been a part of the VTG and FTT for eight years.

“It teaches you everything about the theater. Besides acting, I’ve learned lights, sound, backstage work, painting and raising and lowering the flying backdrops,” said Oscar. “I like doing it for the community and I don’t want to get paid for it. I’m up here all the time and I don’t get paid a dime.”

Oscar said he wants to stay in community theater when he attends Hinds Community College in Raymond. He plans to get general education courses out of the way first and then pursue a career in criminal justice, he said.

“As these kids grow up, if they stay in the theater they learn to do all the jobs,” said Britt, FTT’s coordinator for more than 10 years.

If you go

The Vicksburg Theatre Guild’s Fairy Tale Theater will present four plays Thursday through June 24 at the Parkside Playhouse, 101 Iowa Blvd. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children under 12. For more information, visit www.vicksburgtheatreguild.com.

• Thursday — 10 a.m., “A Dragon in the Mix” (audience will include day care groups and pre-schoolers); and 7 p.m., “Rapunzel” and “Darius the Dragon.”

• Friday — 10 a.m., “Supercomics” (daycare/preschool); and 7 p.m., “Rapunzel” and “A Dragon in the Mix.”

• Saturday, June 23 —2 p.m., “A Dragon in the Mix”and “Darius the Dragon”; and 7 p.m., “Rapunzel” and “Supercomics.”

• June 24 — 2 p.m., “Supercomics” and “Darius the Dragon.”