A trio of ten-year-olds crowded the ticket booth of the Vineyard Playhouse last week, earnestly peddling imaginary tickets to playhouse employee Geneva Monks. This was their dress rehearsal, preparation for last Saturday’s production of Cave Critters Unite, the play created by Bridget Mello’s class at the Edgartown School for their part in the playhouse’s Fourth Grade Theatre Project.

When asked if they will be acting in the shows, one box office associate in smart silver hoop earrings responded, “No, we’re on the production crew.” Kiana Casey’s tone makes it clear that she takes her role very seriously. “We’re going to sell some tickets and then go up and introduce the play.”

The production crew is just one piece of the final performance. The Fourth Grade Theatre Project allows fourth grade classrooms across the Island to develop original plays that are eventually performed at the playhouse. The students are divided into five groups; the production crew deals with publicity and ticket sales, the technical team works on lighting and sound for the show, and the scenic team handles the backdrops and props. Then there is the costume crew, and the acting team.

“It’s really the basic philosophy to the program that all of the children are all so different and they have such different talents,” said Kate Hancock, who shares the role of project director with M.J. Bruder Munafo, in a post-dress rehearsal interview last week. “In most schools somebody picks the play and then all the children act in it. And not all kids want to be on the stage . . . . The part I really love is watching those kids shine.”

The project was started by Ms. Bruder Munafo and Georgia Morris in 1993 to help channel some of the pent-up energy of a lively class of fourth graders into something productive. At the time, the Edgartown School was under renovation and the cramped quarters were stifling for the unusually large fourth grade group. “They were bursting at the seams and they were sort of squished into two classrooms,” said Ms. Bruder Munafo. “So they were actually looking for off-site things. We had wanted to do a theatre project, so we just came up with this sort of working title.”

Now in its 16th year, that title appears to have stuck, and so has the enthusiasm of the participants. “It’s a memorable project for the kids that have participated ... and the kids that are in first, second and third grade are just dying to get to fourth grade to do the Fourth Grade Theatre Project,” said Ms. Bruder Munafo.

Instruction and rehearsal take place during school hours, because the project is part of the school curriculum. “Kate has been instrumental in moving the project up to the next level because she’s a retired fourth grade teacher, so she speaks education,” said Ms. Bruder Munafo. “She has come up with a million creative ideas for the learning process and the brainstorming process.”

Ms. Bruder Munafo’s own experience in directing has helped her navigate the younger crowd. “I had some tricks up my sleeve from teaching improv,” she said. Her skills are clear at the dress rehearsal. She talks to the students as if they are theatre professionals, firm without being overly critical. She wants the kids to know that the hard work they’ve put in can actually translate to something substantial, both now and in the future. “Theatre is a profession,” she said. “The kids get a taste of that, the professionalism, or that it could actually be a profession if they wanted it to be.”

The kids have been working on the project twice a week for six weeks. They come up with ideas for the story, and Ms. Bruder Munafo and Ms. Hancock help out with the script and dialogue. Ms. Hancock designed a quest for the students to show them around the playhouse when meetings move from the classroom to the theatre, and the kids learn their theatre terminology from playing games of Broadway Bingo. “It’s not just about putting on a play,” said Ms. Hancock. “It’s about cultural history and how theatre is a part of the world that these kids live in.”

Important as it may be, like so many other arts programs around the Island and throughout the rest of the country, the theatre project has fallen on hard times this year. “We don’t have funding for this year, actually,” said Ms. Bruder Munafo. “Outside of the school contributions and these little bits and pieces that we’ve put together, we don’t have funding ... so that means that the playhouse is assuming the cost of the project.”

“Grant money is drying up faster than a cactus in the desert,” said Ms. Hancock. “But because it’s an educational program . . . we’ve developed a teacher’s guide and things to sort of ramp up the educational piece of it. That’s what a lot of funding organizations look at.” She’s hoping this will help get sponsors on board for next year. In the meantime, they have to make do on much tighter resources. “It’s tough, there’s no question about it.”

Still, they are confident that local supporters won’t allow tight budgets to jeopardize the program. “We have a great staff working on the program and we also have terrific fourth grade teachers and their assistants, who are really helpful too,” said Ms. Bruder Munafo. “It’s a collaboration among the adults as well as the kids . . . . Now, it’s so much a part of their curriculum and a part of their expectations. The kids, particularly, and the parents. The parents, I think, would make sure it happened.”

Two shows tomorrow afternoon and evening — performances of Potion Commotion and Taj Mah-Trouble by students from the Oak Bluffs school — will wrap up the fall session of this year’s theatre project. In January, they will begin working with fourth graders from the Tisbury and West Tisbury Schools. “We used to do all the schools at one time,” said Ms. Bruder Munafo. This is the first year they’ve split them up. But is the new schedule an improvement? “The jury’s still out,” she said. “In some ways it’s easier because we only have four plays in production for everybody that’s working on the project. And in some ways it’s a little crazier because we had to get certain tasks done quicker than we normally would because the turnaround is a lot quicker.”

At last Tuesday’s dress rehearsal for Cave Critters Unite, which ran alongside Derby Drama on Saturday, the kids seemed unfazed by the pressure of the upcoming performance. A fully costumed crew sat patiently on one side of the theatre, waiting for cues to take the stage. Other students, in regular clothing, lined the seats on the other side of the theatre, popping up every so often to tend to their own tasks behind the scenes. But both groups were equally responsible for the action taking place onstage. With a little help from their faithful project directors, instructors, and a few adult actors, they all worked together to plan, organize and execute the show, and they are equally entitled to a place in the spotlight.

“I liken it to a soccer team,” said Ms. Hancock. “The kid who scores the goal may be the one who gets carried off the field on everybodys’ shoulders, but if it weren’t for the defense and the wings and all of that, he wouldn’t have had the opportunity to make the goal . . . Everyone’s job is important.”

Potion Commotion and Taj Mah-Trouble will be performed by Oak Bluffs School fourth graders at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. tomorrow at the Vineyard Playhouse in Vineyard Haven. Tickets are $6 for adults and $4 for children.