GREENVILLE — The Moosehead Kiwanis Club and the Moosehead Arts and Theater Society have announced a joint project to benefit Greenville area schoolchildren and parents.

The project, which is jointly funded and organized by these two groups, will bring between four and six members of a touring troupe from the University of Maine to the Greenville area on Friday, Feb. 8.

According to Tim Washburn of the Kiwanis Club, the “Aspirations Teen Theater Project,” a production of the University of Maine’s Aspirations Project in collaboration with UM’s Theater and Dance Department, will do two school performances and one evening performance during its Greenville visit.

On Feb. 8, the sixth-, seventh- and eighth-grade pupils will view a 45-minute performance in the school auditorium, which will be followed by a second performance for high school students.

At 7 p.m., a third performance will be given free in the school library for the benefit of parents and pupils of that same age group.

The theater presentations involve interactive elements with the audience that provide a safe environment for open discussion of issues relevant to the personal and educational development of young people.

The project has taken performances to more than 60 Maine communities and schools, and has reached nearly 10,000 Maine people.

In one skit, a 17-year-old boy describes the hole in life that he is attempting to fill by taking drugs. In another, a young woman talks about how it feels to be tracked academically and how hard it is to break away from the negative expectations others have for you.

Another skit focuses on the need for providing options, choices and responsibility.

The theater project in no way attempts to prescribe or preach to young people.

More information is available on this project by calling Washburn at 695-3334, or Anna Hastings of the Moosehead Arts and Theater Society at 695-3369.