Andy’s Summer Playhouse has celebrated the creative energy of young actors in New Hampshire for 40 years now. And this summer the Wilton company will celebrate its milestone anniversary by remounting and reworking three favorite shows from the past three decades.

The theater will kick off the summer season with a theatrical interpretation of “Dick Tracy,” a classic comic strip featuring a mix of film noir and action. Next up will be a unique adaptation of the classic novel “Swiss Family Robinson” that details the wacky adventures of a fame-hungry documentary director. Finally, the season will close with a musical rendition of the 1950’s science fiction film, “The Day the Earth Stood Still.”

Jamie Harrow, one of the managing directors at Andy’s, said the three plays were chosen for the anniversary season because they were community favorites and demonstrated elements of Andy’s shows over the past years. No shows performed earlier than the 1980s were chosen, he said, since the pacing of the older shows might not work with a modern audience.

The plays were also chosen with the 2010 summer staff in mind.

“We knew who our directors would be and we picked shows that would play to their strengths,” Harrow said. For example, “Dick Tracy’s” multimedia focus was seen as a perfect match to be directed by Jared Mezzocchi, a multimedia director and designer for live interactive performances.

Andy’s Summer Playhouse was founded by teachers Bill Williams and Peg Sawyer and was originally located at the town hall in Mason. In 1985, the theater company moved to its current location in the Wilton Center, which seats 125 audience members.

Harrow said the summer youth theater has always focused on having a positive influence on young minds.

“It’s mission was always to nurture the creative spark in every child and provide a safe, noncompetitive environment for it to happen,” said Harrow.

The young actors, ranging from 8 to 18 years old, are involved in almost every aspect of the shows. They help build the sets, light the stage and creatively influence the development of every play. Anywhere between 80 to 100 kids participate every summer

Andy’s actors are led by professional artists who give them inspiration and introduce them to a process that is very high caliber.

“We are a community children’s theater in a small town in New Hampshire and we work with some of the best artists in the country today,” said Harrow, “We are committed to bringing in the best artists to mentor our children.”

The theater recently went through troubling times and it almost had to close in 2008 due to dwindling finances. What started as a financial hurdle turned into a testament to the theater’s influence, as Andy’s alumni and members of surrounding communities rushed to provide support. Harrow spearheaded the fund-raising along with fellow alumni Mark Haley and DJ Potter. Their efforts and 40 years of combined experience earned them their spots on the executive staff, with Haley serving as the group’s second managing director and Potter serving as artistic director.

The time and money donated to the cause pulled the theater away from financial collapse and to a level of financial stability it had not experienced for some time.

“What pulled it through was the energy and commitment of the alumni and community. That indescribable spirit of Andy’s came forth with a gusto,” said Harrow, “The energy and the response we got from the community was absolutely astounding and is evidence how Andy’s has captured the hearts of the people who have gone through it.”

Harrow said he sees children develop on an emotional level and come out of the program stronger and more confident individuals.

“We often see kids who go through Andy’s who go through struggles in their life,” he said. “They come in at the beginning of the production wearing their struggles as a costume, then they go into a process through mentoring to put on other costumes. What they have control over is how they are, who they choose to be in the face of those struggles.”

Last year the theater management asked the young actors to give their thoughts on what Andy’s means to them. One anonymous youngster wrote: “Andy’s was the first place where I saw myself truly, if not yet in sharp detail, and liked what I saw... not only that, but I felt others saw me truly too, and maybe even more clearly than I could myself, and liked me just like that.”

Another anonymous actor wrote: “Andy’s is my home away from home; the amazing people who come here are my second family. Without this place, I would not be the person I am today, or have been lucky enough to meet so many fantastic people; Andy’s is my silver lining, my glass half full.”

Harrow started performing with Andy’s at the age of nine and has been involved with the theater through all the formative years of his life. He finds it amazing to see alumni bring their own children to the program, offering the same opportunity he had to grow as individuals.

“I can attribute the inner strength I associate with my individuality, the ability I have to express myself individually, to strike a chord in whatever I’m doing with the people around me — I attribute all of that to have been seeded into me at Andy’s,” said Harrow.

The majority of the Andy’s acting community is made up of returning actors, but this year the group had an unprecedented 20 new families join the summer program. According to Harrow, the theater is hoping to raise enough funds to enter a secure financial space, so they can focus all their attention on their mission: the creativity of New Hampshire’s youth. They are already planning their next season and looking at possibilities to expand the program through theater-based workshops across New Hampshire.

“Andy’s is a theater program, and Andy’s is about so much more than theater,” said Harrow.