Touchstone Theatre will present a sensory-friendly theatrical performance of "DaPooch, or The Story of Poochie's Three Hundred and Seventy-Second Birthday AND How the Hunga Munga Munga SAVED HIS LIFE!" at 11 a.m. June 20. The performance includes a preshow "build your own puppet" session and an introduction to the theater; plus, a post-show puppet performance workshop.

Tickets for the morning's activities are pay-what-you-will.The theater and box office will be open at 10 a.m., as will the Touchstone Café where guests can enjoy coloring, puppet-making, and "bring your own snack" time. The cafe will also be available throughout the 40-minute performance as an alternative quiet space.At 11 a.m., actor Bill George and puppet Poochie will lead guests into the theater for a brief introduction to theater before "DaPooch" begins.After the performance, guests may return to the cafe and learn how to puppeteer their newly made puppets with help from the Touchstone artists."DaPooch" is performed by master storyteller and Touchstone co-founder George, who first conceived of the fictional world of Poochie as a story for his children."On my son Sammy's 5th birthday, he was so worried he wasn't going to have a good birthday it was ruining his day," says George. "So I told him about Poochie's 372nd birthday. There's no way he could have a worse birthday than his!"A few years later, after many requests from his children for more and more stories, George decided to turn the original story about friendship and facing one's fears into a play, adding songs and theatrics.The show has gone through many periods of evolution, spawning additional episodes of Poochie's adventures, and touring to various venues, across the country and abroad. For this performance, "DaPooch" will be adapted to be sensory-friendly to serve a wider audience of theater-going families.Touchstone Theatre is located at 321 E. Fourth St. in Bethlehem. Tickets can be purchased at the box office in advance or on the day of the performance. Large groups should call 610-867-1689 to reserve seats ahead of time.For more information about the theater, visit

www.touchstone.org.