LOVELL — Stories, juggling, singing and laughter – that’s how Lovell’s Brick Church for the Performing Arts will close its 2011 season on Friday, Sept. 9.

To kick off the new school year, storytellers Jo Radner, Meg Gilman and Michael Parent will present a lively family evening of stories about friendship.

Can a 7-year-old girl befriend a reclusive old curmudgeon? Can two thieves be honest companions? How do dark secrets affect a friendship? The evening’s stories — funny, moving, intriguing — will dance around such questions.

Audience members will occasionally be recruited to take part in the show, providing sound effects, acting parts, singing and even performing in the Spontaneous Combustible Symphony Orchestra. The show is aimed at story lovers ages 5 to 95.

Radner, Gilman and Parent, who call themselves the Chums, have been working and creating stories together for at least a decade. For this show, they will bring out some of their favorite tales.

Parent, an internationally known storyteller, singer, hockey player and juggler, has been performing since 1977. In 1999, he was awarded the National Storytelling Network’s highest honor, the Circle of Excellence.

Gilman, a New Hampshire storyteller who periodically wanders into Maine, has served on the Boards of Directors of the Healing Story Alliance and the League for the Advancement of New England Storytelling.

Radner of Lovell was storyteller-in-residence at New Suncook School in 2010-11. She is a past president of the National Storytelling Network and the American Folklore Society.

The Chums will perform at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for any adult accompanied by a child, $3 for children under 12. They will be available at the door. Refreshments will be served at intermission. The Brick Church is on Christian Hill Road. For more information, call 925-2792 or go to www.lovellbrickchurch.org.

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