QUENTIN ROUX / Staff

Dancers Lynn Jones, left, and Brianna Wielgos pay attention to stage direction during a rehearsal of The 12 Dancing Princesses.

QUENTIN ROUX / Staff

The cast of the play circles in for a group shot.

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Theatrical directors have enough on their hands directing small casts, so spare a thought for Patti Ziesig.

She’s taken on the task of holding auditions and producing “The Twelve Dancing Princesses,” a professional show featuring 12 local young teenagers and pre-teens as well as a couple of young male leads.

The show, which will be presented at the Marco Players theater in the Town Center on Sept. 3, 4, 6 and 7, is to raise money to send a troupe of young dancers to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade later this year.

The parade participants will represent the Island Dance Academy, and be known as the Island Dance Academy Performance Troupe.

Ziesig, who has been putting the dancing princesses through their paces for the past three weeks, isn’t fazed by the size of the cast.

During one of the rehearsals, she was the epitome of a drill sergeant as she fine-tuned a couple of scenes, bellowing at mistakes but also applauding good work.

The young dancers reacted accordingly, even enjoying sometimes being reprimanded with what was obviously a mixture of authority and good humor on Ziesig’s part.

The storyline involves a strict King who locks all his daughters away each night, but is perplexed in the mornings when their ballet shoes show obvious signs of wear.

The King asks his subjects to help him solve the mystery, offering one of the princesses as a bride if successful.

Ziesig said besides the four upcoming performances, the young dancers will put on an extra, adapted show at the theater during the Christmas season by way of thanks to the Marco Players management for allowing them to use the theater.

Ticket costs are $20 for adults and $5 for children under 12, and showtimes are 8 p.m. on Sept. 3, 4 and 6, with a 3 p.m. matinee on Sept. 7.

For advance tickets, call Corina Valdez at 250-0525, or Natalie Stafford at 289-1698.

Tickets will also be on sale one hour before shows at the theater’s box office in the Town Center.