One school performance will be available for 250 students on Friday, March 3, at 10 a.m. for $2 per student. Schools should call the Arts Center to reserve their seats — first come first go!

Public performances are offered at 7 p.m. Friday, March 3, and at 2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, March 4-5. All tickets are $5 and this is a perfect show for beginner theater goers as it lasts less than an hour.

The show begins with the dawn of a glorious summer’s day out in the country. Standing in the sunshine is a small farm, behind which is a lake surrounded with cattails.

Drake, a proud father-to-be, introduces us to “A Poultry Tale.” His wife, Ida, and the rest of the farmyard residents join in the telling while the Cat hides, eyeing the duck eggs in Ida’s nest, which he hopes will make a savory dinner. Ida tends to her nest of four average-sized eggs and one curious-looking, large brown egg. Four perfectly respectable ducklings emerge from the four perfectly respectable, average-sized eggs. Ida contemplates the last remaining egg and broods about why this one is so “Different.” Suddenly there is a chipping sound, followed by a cracking sound. Ugly, a large, ungainly bird waddles out of his shell with a loud “HONK!”

Ugly cannot quack like the others. She is much larger than the others. Ida worries that her new hatchling is indeed a turkey – as Drake suggested – but Ugly allays her fears when she doesn’t react to the word “Butterball” and is eager for a swim. Ida soon realizes that Ugly is an amazing swimmer and she is exhilarated and joyous until she meets Drake and the ducklings on the shore. They humiliate their awkward sibling with “Look at Her.”

Grace, a duck so lovely that she is honored with a red band, meets Ida’s new offspring and congratulates her – but only on the perfectly respectable ducklings. Ugly suffers further humiliation from the members of the barnyard when they gather for a taste of French bread thrown into the pond, but she is crowded out and unable to share in the feast. Alone, hungry and miserable, Ugly laments his fate of being “Different,” but, at the end of the song, the devious Cat sidles up to her, commiserates and persuades Ugly to join him for “lunch” in his den. When Ida realizes that Ugly is missing, she organizes a search.

As Ugly tries to retrace his steps to return home, she realizes that she is lost. Ida sets out on a journey in search of her not-so-little, but very lost ugly duckling.

On the marshlands, Ugly has sought shelter in a ditch. There, she encounters Greylag (a stern, admiral-sort-of gander) and his wife, Dot, who are looking for their wayward flock of geese. Ugly asks the flighty pair for directions back to the farm, and the geese offer to help Ugly find her home. They advise Ugly that the Cat is not her friend and, since it is hunting season, they warn her to stay out of sight.

Meanwhile, back at the duck yard, Drake is burdened with the brunt of the responsibility of minding the brood. Ugly, who is still lost, encounters Penny, the most beautiful bird she has ever seen, tangled in a fishing line. A friendly Ugly comes to the lovely swan’s rescue. When Penny learns that Ugly is lost and alone, she eagerly suggests that she join her flock, fly south for the winter and then they will both search for her family next spring.

The Bullfrog soon realizes that Ugly has a problem with his appearance. No stranger to denigration because of uncommon attributes, the Bullfrog cheers Ugly up and teaches him to love himself with “Warts and All.” Sufficiently cheered up and with a much better attitude, Ugly bids the Bullfrog and his Froglets goodbye.

Throughout Ugly’s journey, the seasons have changed. As Cat and Ugly make their way back to the barnyard, they are caught in a late winter “Blizzard.” They fight desperately to make their way through the snow, but as the storm blows over, Ugly and Cat succumb to the weather and are completely buried beneath a snowdrift. Ida, having searched far and wide, recognizes her offspring’s figure in a lump of snow and, realizing that she is too late, approaches her child’s icy grave. As she sinks to her knees sobbing, Penny and her swan family have returned. Mother Swan sees Ida  and encourages her tears, “for the warmth of a mother’s tears can thaw the stoniest frost.” As she turns away in frustration, Ida’s warm and salty tears melt the snow, revealing her ugly duckling. The ice falls from her feathers and Ugly emerges as a beautiful swan. “I’m not a duck” she honks, “I’m a swan!” Ida and her beautiful Ugly embrace.

Despite the heartache of saying goodbye to her child, Ida sends Ugly off with Penny to learn the ways of the Swans. Suddenly Ida hears a joyful “Honk!” from behind her. Ugly declares that she could never leave her true mother who raised and loved her unconditionally. Penny and Ugly decide that they will be the first swans to live on the duck pond. Ugly is proud to be different, and she likes her “Honk.”

In the finale, (“Look at Her – Reprise”) Ugly, Ida and Penny return to the barnyard with a flourish. The ducklings, the neighbors – and even Drake – now extol the virtues of having such a fine bird in their midst. Grace, previously the prettiest duck on the lake, graciously relinquishes her coveted red band to the beautiful Ugly. The whole neighborhood has learned how important it is to “just believe in yourself. Don’t be left on the shelf feeling that all hope is dead and gone. And you may find, in your own way, you’re a swan.”

Youth Theater — grades 6 -12 — will begin work on the spring production of “Thoroughly Modern Millie” with auditions being held on Monday, Feb. 27, from 6:30-8 p.m. There will be a $30 production fee that will cover a show T-shirt, script and all costumes and props. Scholarships are available.

For more information call the Arts Center at 985-1922.