Three years after taking the stage for the first time in the Cape Elizabeth High School production of “The King and I,” 10-year-old Lydia Belden will make her television debut in a new show for children coming out this fall.

The fifth-grader at Cape Elizabeth Middle School has been performing for her family since she was 3 years old, said her mother Anne Belden, but only began to grace the stages of the high school and area community theaters in the past few years. And it was an audition at the Children’s Theatre of Maine last spring that ultimately led to the phone call that brought her to television.

Though the production of “Charlotte’s Web” at the Children’s Theater of Maine that Lydia participated in was not a musical, Lydia had to sing during the audition. The director must have remembered Lydia’s audition because he ended up recommending her when Con Fullam, a Windham resident and executive producer of “Ribert & Robert’s WonderWorld,” called looking for potential candidates for the new, nationally syndicated children’s series being produced for public television and slated to premiere this fall.

“Ribert & Robert’s WonderWorld” is a show geared towards kindergarten-aged children and stars an animated toad named Ribert and his best friend Robert. In each episode the pair travels through the animated land of WonderWorld meeting interesting characters, watching live performers, doing science experiments and discussing real-life dilemmas. Each episode explores a different topic taken from the kindergarten curriculum, such as colors, music, sharing or space. Fullam described the show as “‘Blue’s Clues’ meets ‘Sesame Street’ meets ‘The Ed Sullivan Show.'”

Over the summer Fullam set out to search for young talent in southern Maine whom he could use in the new show. “I tried to keep it as local as possible,” Fullam said, to give children here opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t be available.

After Fullam received Lydia’s name from the Children’s Theatre of Maine it all happened so quickly, Anne Belden said. Fullam called on a Monday in late July; that Friday Lydia was in a small recording studio in a Munjoy Hill attic and by the next Tuesday she was on the television set in Lawrence, Mass.

In the recording studio Lydia sang three songs, one for each of the episodes she would perform in. One was about manners, one was about space and the other was about sharing and caring. Lydia said her favorite song was about space, even though she doesn’t enjoy science class at school.

“It’s kind of strange when you sing into a microphone and hear yourself in the headphones,” Lydia said. “It’s kind of confusing, too.”

At Deos Animation Studio in Massachusetts they filmed the live action part of the episodes. Lydia would be acting and singing with an adult performer on the set.

Lydia found the set different than the stages she was used to. Being on a set is “kind of like a concert, but with something staring at you,” Lydia said. “This big giant eyeball.”

During the recording the director told her she must keep her eyes focused on one of only two spots, the “big giant eyeball” or the adult performing with her. Lydia found this very hard. In theater she could focus on the stage or audience, or she could just “think of other things. … But, this time I had to be focused,” Lydia said.

As Lydia was getting used to focusing, smiling constantly and lip-syncing to herself the director made her repeat it many times. “On camera you can do it over and over again,” Lydia said, “but, you can’t do that on stage.”

Looking back on the experience Lydia said it was “cool,” but compared it to getting hit on the head with a rock, waking up and not knowing what has happened.

Though 13 episodes of the show have already been produced, Fullam said Lydia was the first child used in the series. He said the idea is to incorporate more children into the show, and the fact that Lydia handled it so well is a good sign that the series will continue to recruit young talent.

“It’s very impressive she could carry it off in such a short time,” he said. “She was clearly a real springboard. If the opportunity presents itself, we wouldn’t hesitate to use her again.”

“It really has been a lot of fun,” Anne Belden said. “To watch your child do something you know they love is a thrill.”

But, opportunities in southern Maine for children in theater are “few and far between.” Most plays done at community theaters don’t include kids and the Children’s Theatre is very competitive, she said. “I would love to see more opportunities for theater for kids in our community.”

Fullam said he wasn’t sure where or when the show will air in Maine, only that it definitely will. “Stay tuned for your local listings.”

Besides all the excitement of being in a recording studio and on a television set, Lydia still said her favorite part was getting to use the black and white clapper board to begin segments of the filming when she wasn