"I spend so much time with them after school anyway," Ellington says. "This is kind of an extension of that."

Ellington has been involved with the Sunnyvale theater group for 12 years; she started as a performer in Fiddler on the Roof and has designed costumes and directed subsequent shows.

"I've been doing theater all my life," Ellington says. "I used to do shows at Children's Musical Theatre [of San Jose], and theater was one of my majors at Santa Clara University.

"I like the opportunities it gives to kids," she adds.

Ellington convinced Paula Sanchez, Bret Harte's music teacher, that the theater group would be an opportunity for her to bond with her three nieces, who are all in Anne of Green Gables. In addition to transporting her nieces to rehearsals and making their costumes, Sanchez is playing clarinet in the show's orchestra.

"It's a good outlet for them," Sanchez says. "It's something I don't mind being involved in and driving them to, unlike being at the soccer field."

Sanchez says performing boosts her nieces' and her students' self-esteem.

"They're on stage where everyone can see them," she adds.

Ellington says the theater is a good place for her students to learn life skills.

"It teaches responsibility and respect," she adds. "This is all about communication and cooperation."

Communication and cooperation are key to bringing Anne of Green Gables to the stage. Double-cast with about 55 children, the musical follows the popular story of a strong-willed orphan in 19th-century Canada who is taken in by a farming family.

"It's always a plus to have [shows with] more female characters because we attract more girls," Ellington says.

One such girl is Megan Haley, one of Ellington's former students. Now a freshman at Leland High School, Megan is playing the title role in the Sunnyvale show.

While she played Briar Rose in Enchanted Sleeping Beauty as an eighth-grader at Bret Harte, Anne Shirley is Megan's first major role. She's also been in shows at CMT. While she takes private voice lessons to strengthen her singing abilities, she says the drama classes she took at Bret Harte helped her improve her acting.

"In other shows I've been in, acting wasn't as big a part of it," she says. "It's been fun learning how to get into character."

Part of this characterization has been external, since Megan is a brunette and Anne Shirley is a redhead.

"I had to dye my hair," Megan says, touching her new henna-tinted locks.

Megan has also been using improvisation techniques she learned at Bret Harte to keep the action on stage running smoothly should another cast member flub a line.

"You have to keep going," she says.

While it's a long haul from the Almaden Valley to Sunnyvale for rehearsals and performances, Megan says the experience is worth it.

"It's been really fun getting to know people you wouldn't meet otherwise," she adds.

"Anne of Green Gables" runs Feb. 17-March 12 at the Sunnyvale Community Center Theater, 550 E. Remington Ave. Performances are Thursday at 7:30 p.m., Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $15. For more information, visit www.sunnyvaleplayers.org.