A classic play of love and friendship will be presented this weekend in Hans Christian Andersen’s children’s story “The Nightingale.”

The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., will bring its “Imagination Celebration on Tour” production to the Iowa State Center. The “Imagination Celebration” is a division of the Kennedy Center that helps to organize traveling children’s theater performances.

The Kennedy Center generally commissions playwrights and choreographers to adapt written stories into theater performances. The group then takes its show on the road and perform across the country, making the arts fun and educational at the same time, says Sara Barr, Iowa State Center director of marketing.

“Their mission is to make the arts available to everybody,” she says. “They take their show to smaller venues across the nation, so children everywhere have the chance to experience the arts.”

“The Nightingale” is the story of a Chinese emperor who hears of a bird with a very special song, and finds the animal to keep for himself. But when he receives a mechanical jeweled bird as a gift, he decides to keep the fake one and sends the real nightingale back to the forest. After the emperor becomes sick and unhappy when his jeweled bird breaks, the real nightingale returns, teaching the emperor the true meaning of friendship and happiness.

“This story is really about the contrast between nature’s beautiful creature that must remain free, and the mechanical version that is reliable and will stay with the emperor,” says Patti Cotter, programming manager for the performing arts at the Iowa State Center. “The actors will be using their movements and dancing as a way to show that contrast between the live and mechanical birds.”

Hans Christian Andersen wrote more than 100 fairy tales, including “The Princess and the Pea,” “The Ugly Duckling,” “The Little Mermaid” and “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” Cotter says the author designed the stories to be entertaining and imaginative for younger audiences. “[Andersen called them] wonder stories for children,” Cotter says.

“The Nightingale” cast consists of five performers, including the emperor, the real nightingale, the mechanical nightingale, two courtiers and a servant that acts as narrator.

Actor Leonardo Torres, who plays the emperor in the performance, says he is excited to perform and travel with the production.

“This is my first performance with the Kennedy Center,” Torres says. “But I’ve really enjoyed the tour so far. It’s a great experience, and a good way to travel.”

Ticket holders can bring their children at 2:30 p.m. Sunday to the Celebrity Cafe at Stephens to participate in a special craft project that will relate to the play.

“The children will be decorating a paper bird that they can then take with them,” says Sarah Compton, outreach coordinator for the Iowa State Center. “We will be providing them with a cut-out bird, as well as materials to decorate it, so they can make a model of one of the nightingales in the performance.”

A second performance of “The Nightingale” will be performed at 10 a.m. Monday and will be a Martha-Ellen Tye Performing Arts Institute show for surrounding elementary schools. This performance will not be open to the public, and will only be for students and teachers to attend.

“This is an all-inclusive entertainment experience for young children,” Barr says. “On Sunday, the craft activity will offer insight into the performance they are about to see. For students that come Monday, there is a study guide that teachers can access online to further enhance the child’s educational experience.”

What: Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Nightingale”

Where: Stephens Auditorium

When: 3 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $9.50 students, $17.50 public