Sage, a freshman at Saratoga High School, has been performing in the San Jose Dance Theater's annual production of "The Nutcracker" for five years. She has played various roles through the years, including a soldier, a cookie, a party girl, a courtier and a mouse. This year, however, the tables have turned. Sage gets to play the villainous mouse captain, controlling and ordering around all of the smaller mice.

"I love getting to be evil," she said.

The only real challenge about being a mouse or the mouse captain, Sage said, is that the giant mouse heads the actors have to wear for their costumes make it somewhat hard to breathe and see.

"My costume is basically everything the mice wear, except I get to wear a hat," said Sage. She adds that the faces of the giant mouse heads extend out almost a foot in length. "We only have two little holes to see out of, and for me, one of those holes is covered up by a large ostrich feather [that comes out of my hat]."

Sage said that her character holds the main character, Clara, captive, although she eventually escapes. Sage said that another part she enjoys is when the Mouse King walks onstage, and all of the mice have to bow to him; except, as the mouse captain, she only salutes.

Sage was studying ballet with Dance Theater International when she met the owner, Maggie Ferla. The Dance Theater put on its own production of "The Nutcracker", which Sage performed in. When the San Jose Dance Theater approached Ferla to be a part of its production of "The Nutcracker" at the Center for the Performing Arts, she called a meeting with the parents of the children in the company to suggest that the two dance groups work together. Sage's father, David Doshay, a scientist, went to the meeting and decided to get involved.

"It was kind of a 'let's see what happens,' " said Doshay.

Doshay said they were a bit blindsided at the show's magnitude. "We had no idea what we were getting into," Doshay recalls. "It wasn't just a recital—it was a big, old-fashioned Nutcracker show."

Doshay continued helping out, along with a lot of other parents of children in the show, and found himself truly enjoying it. It wasn't long before he had a few strongly defined roles in the annual production.

Doshay, who has served on San Jose Dance Theater's board of directors for a few years now, is the prop master during productions.

As the prop master he builds and maintains all the props—or objects that actors carry—for the show, and keeps charge of them during performances to make sure all the onstage actors have everything they need when they go on and off stage.

Doshay also runs "stage left" during all the shows.

"I cue up and prepare the large number of objects that go on and off stage, and I make sure the wings are ready to go for who and what goes on and off stage," said Doshay. He explains that, for a production the size of "The Nutcracker," there are many large set pieces that are moved on and off stage, so another part of his job is to make sure that backstage areas are clear.

In other words, Doshay helps keep everything running smoothly.

"The whole show can be ruined by something not happening that's supposed to happen," he said. "It can throw the whole performance off."

Doshay said he is very dedicated to making sure the props for "The Nutcracker" are of the best quality they can be, even though, for the most part, he covers all of the costs out of his own pocket. In fact, "The Nutcracker" character's sword took him more than 80 hours to build. It unfortunately broke during last year's final performance, so he is currently hard at work rebuilding a stronger sword this year.

"Most people go by the '30-foot rule,' which said, 'if you can't tell from 30 feet, it doesn't matter.' I disagree," he said. "I run by [my own] 'arm-length' rule. Actors act with more enthusiasm when the prop looks right from where it is in their hand. I put a lot more time and effort into the props."

Doshay said he has a lot of admiration for the San Jose Dance Theater organization, and believes in it passionately.

"We're a very tight organization. No one gets paid for doing this. We all do it for our own reasons," he said. "Some people put up Christmas lights. We choose to do this. Every year there are about 50 to 100 families that participate. In a way, I see it as our gift to the community."

Doshay explains that there are no permanent, paid employees in the organization; they only hire temporary employees shortly before a show opens to answer the phones and sell tickets. However, the lack of pay has never seemed to drive anyone away, he said.

"We have such a good time doing it that people come back year after year, long after their children are no longer involved," he said. He recalls one family that had been involved for a few years when their daughter was a dancer in the show. They ended up moving to Phoenix, but for the past three years they have flown back just to help out with the production.

Doshay said that another main reason he believes in San Jose Dance Theater so whole-heartedly is the organization's program to donate tickets to the needy, who otherwise wouldn't have the opportunity to get much culture in their lives. Doshay has been one of the biggest proponents of this program through the years, working tirelessly to expand it.

"There is a large number of people in the Bay Area community that could never afford to attend a performance like this," he explains. "I run a program with San Jose Dance Theater where, through a combination of corporate donations, private donations and a general policy set by the board of directors, we deliver, at no cost, a large number of tickets to the underprivileged."

In the beginning, the organization gave away several hundred tickets each year. Doshay said he was proud when he was able to get that number to 1,000.

"This year, we are giving away approximately 3,000 tickets," he said. "I'm very proud of that. It's been hard work, much harder than you would think, to give away that many tickets."

Doshay said all that hard work is worthwhile when he talks to those who use the donated tickets, and sees just how much the experience impacted them.

"Their Christmases are not happy occasions. They've told us this becomes a memory that sticks with them for a long time," said Doshay.

He said that he hopes that the children who use the donated tickets to see a performance will notice that they are watching children just like them on the stage.

"They don't just have to watch—they can be inspired to participate," he said.

Sage Doshay agrees. She said another admirable quality of San Jose Dance Theater's production is how all of the child characters are played by actual children, unlike other productions in which a child's role might be played by a dancer in his or her 20s. Sage said that San Jose Dance Theater typically casts five or fewer professional dancers each year.

Sage and her father agree that working on the production together, as a family, is one of the best aspects of all. Even Sage's mother, Aviva Garrett, helps with the sewing of the costumes, and runs the "sewing room" during performances.

"Culture and art aren't something you sit and watch someone else do," said Doshay. "It's something we do together, as a family."

Sage also feels the close family tie. "There's something very special about having your parent hug you as you come on and off stage and say, 'you did a good job.' "

The San Jose Dance Theater has partnered with the Los Gatos Ballet for this year's production and will present its 39th annual showing of "The Nutcracker" at the Center for the Performing Arts in downtown San Jose. Saratoga residents Daniella Bozzini, Claire Cottingham, Caroline Dinapoli and Katherine Kurtt are also in the cast along with Los Gatos residents Rachel Care, Vanessa and Erika Driscoll, Christine Herrera, Sophia Hancock, Kathryn Hench, Emma McAdams, Sarah Norman, Sophia Rumasuglia, Claire Schweitzer, Alicia Skillicorn, Marsha Levinson, Gabriella Trapani and Camille Tabari. Evening performances are Dec. 10 and 11 at 7:30 p.m., and matinees are Dec. 11 at 2 p.m. and Dec. 12 at 1 p.m. Tickets range from $22 to $42. Backstage tours are available for $5. For more information visit San Jose Dance Theater's website at www.sjdt.org. Tickets can be purchased, and donations can be made to the ticket program for the underprivileged, through www.ticketguys.com or by calling 408.286.9905. Call for group, senior and student discounts.