MARYSVILLE — Swords and sorcery mixed with grade school angst in the gym of Allen Creek Elementary Feb. 19, when the Taproot Theatre Road Company performed “Alexander and the Dragon.”

In the five-person play, one fifth-grade boy’s fantasies of fighting dragons as a knight were contrasted with his real-life experiences of not doing anything when he saw a new girl in school get bullied.

Allen Creek Elementary Principal Kristin DeWitte had deemed the play “the Sesame Street of school assemblies,” and its costumes and special effects inspired both noises of awe and questions from the school-aged audience once the performance was done.

In the play, Alexander pretends to be a brave knight, but when one of his friends bullies Maddy, a fourth-grade girl who’s just moved to town, he finds himself lacking the courage to stand up for the girl. When he dreams, he imagines Maddy to be a princess, and her bully to be a dragon who’s holding her captive, and thanks to some tips from his mom and the school he’s able to put a stop to her bullying in real life.

“Recognize, refuse and report,” the cast members chorused several times during the play, to summarize how children should respond to bullying behavior. Once children have recognized that a fellow child is being bullied, whether verbally or physically, the actors advised them to “refuse” the bullying behavior, by telling the bullies that what they’re doing isn’t right. From there, the players encouraged children to report bullying behavior to a parent, teacher or other trusted adult. In the play, Alexander finally informs the school bus driver of the bullying that Maddy is suffering.

“There’s a difference between reporting and tattling,” Charissa Huff, who played Maddy, told the students. “Tattling is when you tell on someone just to get them in trouble. Reporting is when you tell on someone to protect yourself or someone else.”

At the end of the play, the girl who had bullied Maddy apologized, admitted that she’d been following the examples of her older brothers. The play even taught children how to engage in equal conversations, when Alexander, who was played by Solomon Davis, realized that you have to let other people talk and ask them about their interests.

After the play, the students asked how the players had created the puff of fire, at the top of their background screen, to simulate the dragon’s fire-breath. David Roby, who played the bus driver and the king, explained that a small piece of flash paper created that effect.

Adrienne Littleton, who played the bully and the dragon, answered another student’s question about how the actors changed costumes so fast by pointing out that each cast member’s outfit had different layers for the multiple characters they played.

DeWitte noted that programs such as this play are especially relevant now, with children being bullied at younger ages, and thanked the Allen Creek Elementary PTSA for helping to bring this play to the 500 students who watched it.