THE evil Snow Queen – the very thought of her sends shivers up the spine – and the story of the little boy, Kai, taken by the frigid Queen to her icy wastes, is just about Hans Christian Andersen’s most famous tale.

Canberra’s community music organisation, Music for Everyone, is about to stage an adaptation of “The Snow Queen”, complete with haunting music by Grieg, a kaleidoscope of scenes and characters, Balinese-inspired masks by Hanna Cormick and a special monologue about Andersen.

But this production is just the tip of a very large iceberg, as the play’s director Dianna Nixon told me last week.

This is Nixon’s third year with MFE’s drama program “Act Up Sing Out” and soon, after a new play about dinosaurs commissioned from Michael Sollis and Cathy Petocz, she’ll have done nine shows.

Among them have been the Stephen Sondheim musical “Into the Woods Jr”, “The Gathering of the Animals” by Ian Blake and Robyn Mellor and the Aussie favourite “Ginger Meggs”.

But the underlying purpose of “Act Up Sing Out” is something much deeper.

Nixon burst on to the theatrical scene in Canberra some years ago with a production of “Les Miserables” for Philo.

A pianist since age six, later trained in voice, dance and drama, Nixon is a graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts.

But it is at Music for Everyone that she has found her métier, carefully guarding the delicate personalities she directs and, while not actively suppressing the show-offs, revealing how shy kids often have talents just beneath the surface.

Nixon says she has been given free rein by MFE director Vivienne Winther to develop the vocal skills of young children, especially their articulation.

With the guiding question, “How do we serve the needs of young people?” she calls her productions “workshops” as she helps nurture developing personalities.

It works. After a showcase during the recent MFA Open Day, one child told her: “That is the first time I’ve ever sung in public and I never even had nerves.”

One word Nixon abhors is “talented”, with its implication that some kids have talent and others just don’t. Likewise the idea of tone deafness – Nixon says too many young children have been told that they can’t sing, so they believe it.

Working with children aged 7-11 can be “quite tricky”, but she doesn’t fuss too much about accuracy, focusing on dynamism and hearty singing.

“The Snow Queen”, Theatre 3, Acton, October 6-13, bookings to 6257 1950 or online at www.canberrarep.org.au, or tickets at the door.