Reading Partners: PEOPLE MAKING A DIFFERENCE

* Mission: To inspire and motivate children to read by introducing them to books and theater through live presentations of stories.

As part of its literacy effort, the Los Angeles Children’s Museum created the Reader’s Theatre Project six years ago. Now, at least least once a month, seven actors and musicians bring stories to life in the museum’s Louis B. Mayer Theatre. About 100 people, mostly 4- to 10-year-olds and accompanying grown-ups, attend each 40-minute performance. Performances are included with the $5 museum admission; children under 2 are free.

Five books are introduced by a narrator who reads the dedications and names of the author and illustrator. Cast members, wearing simple costumes based on the illustrations, portray the story as each page of the book is projected on screens above the stage.

A composer writes a score to match the books, which recently included “Charlie Parker Played Bebop,” by Chris Raschka, and “Nine for California,” by Sonia Levintin and illustrated by Cat Bowman Smith, about a family’s 1860s stagecoach trip.

The Los Angeles Children’s Museum is at 310 N. Main St. For more information, call (213) 687-8800.

* Quote: “It started out very much as a reading project, but we knew we couldn’t teach kids to read. We don’t have them long enough. However, we can turn them on to reading.”

--Candace Barrett, director of the museum and the Reader’s Theatre Project.