BRUNSWICK

Friends of Merrymeeting Bay FOMB and Curtis Memorial Library will cosponsor a special live theater event featuring the Piti Theatre Company presenting “To Bee or Not To Bee” at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 22, in the library’s Morrill Meeting Room as part of Mid-Coast Maine Bee Week.

Piti created the show to raise awareness about the honeybee’s plight and gives children and adults tools for helping bees thrive in their communities. Piti’s performance in Brunswick comes at the end of a two week series of shows including stops in Massachusetts, Belfast and a three-day in-school residency-performance at Searsmont Elementary School. They are planning a national To Bee tour this spring.

One of the major challenges facing honeybees (and many other species around the globe) is loss of habitat, according to FOMB. Honeybees in many parts of the U.S. don’t have enough to eat. Local beekeeper and Friends of Merrymeeting Bay Chairman Ed Friedman notes two additional threats, radio-frequency radiation from wireless devices and climate change.

“Experiments show bees fail to return to their hives when a transmitting wireless device is in the immediate vicinity,” Friedman said. “With the extended warmth of longer summers, hives remain active after nectar and pollen sources have gone by, forcing the bees to use valuable winter stores sooner and at a greater rate than normal. There is no longer enough bee forage, particularly late in the season.”

Organic seeds for bee gardens donated by High Mowing Seeds and Horizon Herbs will be distributed after the show. Friedmanwill be available after the performance to answer any questions about bees.

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