Sometime youngster's imaginations run away from them. And sometimes, their imagination runs toward them.

At least, that was the case Thursday at Mesa Robles Middle School in Hacienda Heights. The students' stories took wing, so to speak, thanks to the Imagination Machine.

In "The Writing Show," a troupe of professional actors took the students' best stories and brought them to life, which explains some of the surprising vignettes such as "Alien Baby."

While not exactly "The X-Files," this piece of science fiction was hilarious as produced by the Imagination actors and actresses.

The thespians from Orange had the entire school laughing as they portrayed the story of a baby that hitches a ride on an asteroid. Naturally, this asteroid lands in Hacienda Heights and the little alien begins to follow a local girl to school.

And the cast of Drew Boudreaw, Erin Lautsch, Aaron Phillips and Jasmine Curry were funny. Especially with Brian Sherick accompanying them on the school piano.

The tiny authors got a real kick when the other kids got to watch their stories live on stage.

Ken Chew and Sarah Martinez, both 6, mugged it up with the actors when the first-graders were called up on stage to receive certificates. Little Nicolas Canderas was a big man in the kindergarten when his story was produced.

Chew was the inspiration behind "The Sleeping Zebra." His "black-striped horse" was catching some zzzzzzzzzz's.

The actors obviously didn't follow the old adage of "letting sleeping zebras lie" but their sendup of Chew's story was very funny.

Little Sarah naturally wrote about a "Fairy Princess," while little Nick's story was about dune buggies.

"The Imagination actors do such a good job acting out the students' stories. I appreciate the PTA paying for them to come to the school every year," said teacher Monica Martinez.

Even the teachers chuckled at the actor's antics during two assemblies at Mesa Robles.

"We try to make it fun for everyone. We put in a lot of slapstick comedy for the kids, and topical humor for the adults," Boudreaw said.

Everyone giggled when he donned a glittery wig to play the alien baby. And everyone guffawed over his sophisticated dialogue of "arrrrrrrgggggghhhh!"

"We read all the students' stories and then we picked the ones that would make the best plays," explained the Imagination crew's Jasmine Curry.

Over past 20 years, the Orange County-based children's theatre company has inspired thousands of students, according to Curry.

Every day, the troupe performs an entirely different show by using the stories from kids at each school. The energetic performers use mime, dance, song and action to bring the tall tales alive.

This encourages the young authors to use their imaginations. And there's nothing like a sleeping zebra or alien baby to spark the kids' creativity.