Grumpsicle has a brand new bag

Kayla Parker, 20, remembers one of the first times she acted in "The Grumpsicle" - way back when she was 4.

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"I could see the Grumpsicle from the side of the stage," Parker said. "The whole dance I was peeking at him. We were supposed to run off on the side of the stage where he was, and I ran off on the opposite side because he scared me so much."

Those initial feelings of fear have given way to something entirely else. Parker has joined the dark side. She, along with Grumpsicle veterans Carolyn Nyman, 19, Aszli Skrzynski, 15, and Amanda Endicott, 13, will play the villian's evil-elf henchmen this year.

"The Grumpsicle," a dastardly hobgoblin/ghoul, has been stealing Santa's bag of toys on Juneau stages for the last quarter-century. He's back this year in "The Mystery of Santa's Missing Toy Bag," the Grumpsicle's 25th anniversary show, at 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, Dec. 20, at Juneau-Douglas High School. Tickets are $8 and are available at Hearthside Books locations.

"This is a tradition at Christmas," Parker said. "It's always fun to perform for people. It's a different storyline every year, but basically the Grumpsicle is a bad guy who tries to ruin Christmas and Santa saves the day. One year we did an 'Arabian Nights' show, and another year it was all 'Aladdin.' The theme kind of changes, but the story stays the same."

Play director Janice D. Holst has written and choreographed the play in Juneau since she moved from New Jersey 25 years ago. This year, the Grumpsicle takes a mysterious sojourn to Egypt.

"Sometimes there's a theme," said Skrzynski, a freshman at Juneau-Douglas. "If you're naughty, that doesn't get you better things. It always ends up that things turn out for Santa, because he's good and does things the right way."

Skrzynski and Endicott, an eighth-grader at Dzantik'i Heeni, both tried out for "Grumpsicle" because their respective cousins were in the play. Endicott was 6 when she started; Skryzynski was 10.

"Grumpsicle" has become part of the holiday season for both of them.

"You always look forward to the Christmas season, getting into the play and being really busy," Endicott said.

"I remember when I was little, some of the older kids would help with my classes, and would always want to be like them," she said. "In a few years, some of these little kids will be helping too."

Parker and Nyman have returned this year to dance, in part because of the 25th anniversary.

"As you get older, your roles in the play change, and you get to teach the little kids," Nyman said. "This year we're teaching more than actually dancing. We do some hiphop and jazz dancing. (Holst) will give us direction, but she has more of a ballet background."