BATH — You don’t have to have a point, to have a point.
That’s the point of “The Point,” which the Midcoast Youth Theater performs at the Chocolate Church Arts Center through Saturday, July 12.
The show is based on a 1971 animated film that includes the voices of Dustin Hoffman and Ringo Starr, and the music of Harry Nilsson, according to the Internet Movie Database. It tells the story of Oblio, a boy born into a kingdom where everyone has a literal point, and his round head makes him the exception.
Ultimately deemed an outlaw and exiled to the Pointless Forest, Oblio learns from his new experiences and acquaintances that one doesn’t have to be pointed for life to have a point.
Midcoast Youth Theater, launched in 2003 and based in Brunswick, produces five musicals a year involving 200-500 participants each season.
Henry Eichman is the show director, and David Olsen Pietrowski, a.k.a. Mr. O.P., is the musical director.
Tracy Gregoire’s search for youth theaters led her to Midcoast Youth Theater, where her 5-year-old son Jasiah is among the young performers in “The Point.” He loves to perform and sing, and, after watching a play at Woodside Elementary School in Topsham, wanted to be on the stage, too.
“It’s a wonderful non-profit organization,” the Topsham woman said last week. “They give everybody a role that tries out.”
The group also has low participation fees, and includes all participants regardless of their ability to pay, Gregoire added.
“For my son and for the kids in general, they’re learning how to do a group activity where everybody has a role, and everybody’s role is just as important as everybody else’s,” she said, adding that participants learn more about “how to sing, how to do dance moves when you’re singing. … They’re also learning how to work as a group, as a team, in a multi-age setting, which is wonderful.”
“The Point” goes on stage at 7 p.m. Thursday and Friday, July 10 and 11, and 2 p.m. Saturday, July 12. Tickets are $10 for adults and $8 for students, and free for children 3 and younger.
Call 751-2619, or log onto youth-theater.org, for more information.
Alex Lear can be reached at 781-3661 ext. 113 or alear@theforecaster.net. Follow him on Twitter: @learics.
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