Halloween Readers Theater performance for families Oct. 29

Sun, 09/17/2023 - 8:30am

The characters from four children’s books are coming to the stage in Bath this fall! Midcoast Literacy, a non-profit organization that provides free literacy tutoring to people of all ages, will present a live Readers Theater performance on Sunday, Oct. 29, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Morse High School Auditorium. Halloween themed activities for kids will be held before the show starting at 1 p.m. For families with children ages 4-10, the one-hour performance by local, professional actors will feature four children’s books: “Bonaparte Falls Apart” by Margery Cuyler,” The Pirates Are Coming!” by John Condon, “A Visitor for Bear” by Bonny Becker, and “Moldilocks and the Three Scares” by Lynne Marie. Tickets are $10 each or $35 for a family (4-8 people) and can be purchased at www.midcoastliteracy.org or by calling (207) 443-6384.

“We’re thrilled to be doing another year of this fun, visually immersive event sharing the love of reading with families,” said Daniel Burson, Midcoast Literacy’s executive director. “This year, we’re adding a bunch of Halloween activities and crafts before the show and at intermission to expand the afternoon for young audience members. Costumes are encouraged!”

Readers Theater is a style of performance that blends the reading aloud of a book with theatrical elements before a live audience. The cast of actors simultaneously narrates the story and brings added life to the characters through voice, expression, and movement. In “Bonaparte Falls Apart” by Margery Cuyler, a young skeleton is falling to pieces and worried about getting made fun of, so his friends come up with schemes to hold his bones together. In “The Pirates Are Coming!” by John Condon, Tom is on the lookout for pirates, but every time he sees a ship it’s a false alarm… until the pirates really do arrive in town. In “A Visitor for Bear” by Bonny Becker, Bear is determined not to let any visitors into his cozy house, but a small, gray, bright-eyed mouse is just as determined to come for tea. And in the slightly spooky re-telling “Moldilocks and the Three Scares” by Lynne Marie, the Scare family takes a midnight stroll to let their soup cool when a little zombie named Moldilocks sleepwalks into their haunted house.

Proceeds from the Oct. 29 performance will support Midcoast Literacy’s Read Together tutoring program for kids ages 6-14 in Midcoast Maine. To find out more about getting help with literacy skills, becoming a volunteer, or attending a future Readers Theater production, go to: www.midcoastliteracy.org