Lucinda Breeding

Denton Community Theatre RoadShow needs very little to make theater happen for schoolchildren. The four-person company needs just a trunk of props and costume bits, an arsenal of stories and songs and an audience to bring into their imaginary landscapes.

The outreach of the community theater started last year when Julie Brinker, the outreach director of the theater, enlisted Gerald Young, Erica Cole and Melanie Welch to perform “story theater” to children in Denton County.

Thanks to the generous members and patrons of the community theater, Brinker said, any group focusing on at-risk or special-needs children in the Denton area can book the RoadShow at no cost — subject to availability. Other groups can book the tour for a nominal fee.

Brinker said the company did 15 performances last summer and she hopes the traveling group tops that this year.

“We need to get the word out. We can go to groups who serve at-risk kids,” she said. “We want people to know we’re here.”

Their approach is bare-bones. The four players present stories and songs to their young audiences, aiming their performances for children in kindergarten through fourth grade. The actors use song and story to involve the children. This year’s theme is “Music Around the World.” The troupe prepared an interactive and interchangeable program of fables, stories and songs. They’ll use “Abiyoyo” from South Africa, “How Music Came to Earth” from the Aztec culture and “Sisters of the Lighthouse,” a true story from the War of 1812. (Last season’s program on personal responsibility will be available again.)

“This is really heavy-duty participatory and heavy-duty interactive. In ‘Abiyoyo,’ we’ll ask the children to be villagers. They’ll help us remember things, and they’ll help us cook a meal and tell us what they brought,” Brinker said.

Brinker is well-studied in story theater. She’s taught the form on the college level and has used it in children’s programs. She’s well-acquainted with children’s literature. Story theater teaches children to use music and story in creative and sensory ways.

“It also teaches them how to be a good audience member,” she said. “It teaches them how to participate and how to participate at appropriate times and in appropriate ways. It’s an informal form of theater. It also can teach reading and writing across the curriculum. We tell them, ‘You can go out at recess and do these. You know the stories now.’”

Brinker said dates for June are open, and the company is looking to schedule performances for Tuesdays and Thursdays in July and August.

Denton Community Theatre has a brisk outreach to children ages 4 through 18 in its theater school. RoadShow takes the art to young audiences that might not experience theater in any other way.

“We’re really excited to be back this year. We want people to know we’re here and ready to bring the program to them.”

For more information about the program or to arrange for RoadShow to bring a performance to your class, camp or program, call 940-382-7012, ext. 3.

The troupe is funded by the Greater Denton Arts Council, the Arts Guild of Denton, Texas Commission on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.

LUCINDA BREEDINGcan be reached at 940-566-6877. Her e-mail address is cbreeding@dentonrc.com .