The characters from four children’s picture books are coming to the stage in Bath this fall! Local nonprofit Midcoast Literacy will present a live Readers Theater performance on Saturday, Nov. 2, from 2 to 3 p.m. at the Morse High School Auditorium. Activities for kids inspired by the stories will be held before the show at 1. For families with children ages 4-10, the one-hour performance by local, professional actors will feature four children’s books: “A Piglet Named Mercy” by Kate DiCamillo, “The Friend Ship” by Kat Yeh, “Library Lion” by Michelle Knudsen, and “The Monster’s Monster” by Patrick McDonnell. 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.

“Readers Theater is such a unique and fun way to share the love of reading with families,” said Daniel Burson, Midcoast Literacy’s executive director. “Seeing the kids last year taking part whole-heartedly in the pre-show activities and then watching the show, with faces painted, intent on the stories, was a special moment. We can’t wait to welcome a bigger crowd this year!”  

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 A Piglet Named Mercy by Kate DiCamillo, Mr. and Mrs. Watson’s hum-drum lives are shaken up when a tiny, unpredictable piglet brings love (and chaos) to their ordinary neighborhood. In The Friend Ship by Kat Yeh, a lonely hedgehog hears about a mysterious Friend Ship and sets off on a daring voyage to track it down, picking up other animals along the way. In Library Lion by Michelle Knudsen, when a lion comes to Miss Merriwether’s orderly library one day, no one is sure what to do: there aren’t any rules about lions in the library. And in The Monster’s Monster by Patrick McDonnell, three little monsters decide to make the biggest, baddest monster ever to wreck mayhem in the village, but their monstrous creation has other ideas.  

Midcoast Literacy’s Nov. 2 Readers Theater event is sponsored by Bowdoin College and Bath Sunrise Rotary. All proceeds will support Midcoast Literacy’s Read Together tutoring program for children ages 6-14. 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   

Midcoast Literacy is a non-profit organization based in Bath that has been providing free tutoring and other literacy programs to people of all ages in Lincoln, Sagadahoc, and northern Cumberland counties for 54 years. Their programs include individualized tutoring for adults and school-age children; workplace literacy group classes for English language learners employed at local businesses; family literacy sessions for preschool and Pre-K families; and free children’s books for low-income families.