Roald Dahl’s Big Friendly Giant has made his way to Oberlin via Lorain County’s The MAD* Factory Players production based on Dahl’s beloved children’s classic. The MAD* Factory is an organization based in the New Union Center for the Arts that provides year-round music, arts and drama programming for young locals and Oberlin alums alike.

The story revolves around Sophie, played by Denise Jennings, OC ’07, who is an English orphan whisked away to Giant Country one night by the BFG (College senior LaBria Bonet), whom she finds every bit as welcoming as his countrymen are dastardly. When Sophie and her newfound friend trip upon the other giants’ child-guzzling plot, they hatch a plan to save the little orphans of England.

Bonet is charming as the BFG, delivering the giant’s infamous squiff-squiddly dialogue in one-of-a-kind cadence she developed specifically for the role.

“For a couple of weeks [of rehearsal], the BFG was just silly — completely inconsistent, pure silliness. After a little of that I tried to find a voice I could be consistent with. I was watching Forrest Gump one weekend with my housemates and realized that his voice was nice mix of innocent, kind and deliberate. I used him to model the voice,” said Bonet.

Other players include Jamina Creason, OC ’06, as Sam and the Head of the Air Force; College senior Nina Fisher as Sam Simkins and Mr. Tibbs; Dima Ilchenko of Langston Middle School as Fleshlumpeater and Head of the Army and high school sophomores LeAundra Richardson, Katie Ross and AnnMarie Shrewsbury in multiple roles.

“I have to admit that actors actually do work. I thought that was a myth before now,” said Fisher, for whom this is the first onstage production.

The script, adapted by premier children’s dramatist David Wood, has been touched up at points by the cast and crew.

“[In the dream scenes] the stage directions actually say, ‘Electronic sounds create

a mysterious mood.’ In our version, the cast from backstage improvises something different each time,” said Fisher.

“We also sing during one of the dreams — “School’s Out” by Alice Cooper. The script doesn’t specify what the characters should be humming, and since the dream takes place in a classroom, we thought it would be funny to do that song. [Also] since it’s a traveling show, the set had to be portable and workable in different types of spaces,” she said.

Fisher began with The MAD* Factory in summer 2007 as stage manager for Once Upon a Mattress and has since participated backstage in over 17 shows.

“There are definitely times when you think, ‘Seriously? I have to go be energetic around kids for two hours? That’s the last thing I want to do right now.’ But once you get there, everything we do is really fun. It’s almost like drinking coffee. All the students we have are great. We’re lucky to have a place like The MAD* Factory right here in Oberlin.”

Two free upcoming shows are slated for Friday at the French Creek Nature Center and St. Mary’s Church in Elyria on Saturday, March 1.