You’ve probably heard the story.

A young girl and boy are led deep into the woods by their parents, who because of a great famine in the land decide to leave the children there to die. The children plan to leave a trail of bread crumbs along the way that will lead them home, but much to heir disappointment, birds swoop down and eat the crumbs, leaving the children with no idea how to get home.

After days of wandering in the woods, the children stumble upon a large cottage built of gingerbread.

After munching on the roof, an old woman comes out and invites the children in.

It’s then that the children become prisoners of a wicked witch.

Sound familiar yet?

It’s the story of Hansel and Gretel.

This week, that story will be brought to life by a host of local actors.

On Monday the Missoula Children’s Theatre cast children from Butler County into roles for the play. On Saturday, the show will take the state at Greenville’s Ritz Theatre.

It marks the second straight year that the group has traveled all the way from Montana to Butler County to partner with the Greenville Area Arts Council to stage a show.

If you didn’t make it out to last year’s performance of “The Wizard of Oz,” don’t miss this year’s show.

Aside from offering a wonderful opportunity for local children to be exposed to professional theater and all that goes into putting on a show, it’s just great entertainment. It’s also a chance to see some of the talent that resides here in Butler County shine.

We are very fortunate to have a group like the GAAC that is dedicated to making the arts a part of our community.

GAAC Executive Director Nancy Idland and the rest of the GAAC crew work extremely hard all year to bring top-quality shows to the Ritz.

Let’s support their efforts and follow the trail of bread crumbs to the Ritz to see what promises to be a fantastic performance full of local talent.