Opening Nov. 3 at Historic Hoover Theatre, the play is based on Roald Dahl's children's book about a little girl named Sophie and a Big Friendly Giant.

"Ever since our first season I've wanted to do something that was more family accessible," says Sean Murphy, director of this production and one of the six co-founders of Renegade.

"Most of our stuff is appropriate for high school age or above."

Yet, Murphy is quick to point out, "It still needs to be Renegade. It needs to be edgy. There are other companies doing an excellent job of mainstream family entertainment.

"We want to appeal to the Renegade audience, but still be appropriate for all ages. Roald Dahl is the epitome of all that. This happens to be my favorite Roald Dahl story."

While Murphy says he believes The BFG is appropriate for children 4 and up, he advises parents to use their own judgement.

"I'm bringing my daughter Fiona who turns 3 on Thanksgiving," he says. "She's sitting in on rehearsals. I'm using her as our test case for scariness."

While the play deals with a child, there are no children in the cast.

To achieve the desired effects of size, some cast members wear costumes nine feet tall and Sophie is portrayed in parts of the play by an actress and in parts by a doll.

Renegade was founded by six graduates of the theater arts program at Santa Clara University. They staged their first production in August 2001 in the old Fuel 44 bar in downtown San Jose.

After organizing as a nonprofit and scheduling annual seasons of three plays, with two of them performed at Bellarmine College Preparatory, this year Renegade found a home at Historic Hoover.

The BFG is their third of four productions there this year.

Murphy says audiences for its most recent play, Skyscraper, were "lower than anticipated.

"We need to get our brand out there. Our season used to be April to the end of August and now we're July through February of each year," he says.

One of the reasons the group wanted to become a resident theater company at Historic Hoover is because members felt Rose Garden area residents are a sophisticated audience from which to draw.

Murphy expects The BFG to be the most successful production of this season.

While Renegade has started doing outreach to schools, Murphy says there's no funding for children to attend it.

To counteract that, Renegade is offering a free child's ticket with the purchase of a full price adult ticket if patrons use the code word scrumdiddlyumptious. It's a word fans of The BFG are well acquainted with, along with snozzcumbers and whizzpopping.

"It's on a first come, first serve basis if they call or come to our box office," Murphy says. "We want to help make this more accessible to children."

Renegade Theatre Experiment's "The BFG" runs Nov. 3-6, 10-13, 17-20 and 25-26. Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening performances are at 8 p.m. with Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2 p.m. Tickets are $18 general admission on Thursdays and matinees and $20 on Friday and Saturday nights. Students, teachers and seniors with IDs qualify for discount tickets of $13 to $15. Children 12 and under are $10 at all performances. Historic Hoover Theatre is at 1635 Park Ave. For additional information visit www.renegadetheatre.com or call 408.351.4440.