Westerly — For 40 years, the Chorus of Westerly’s “Celebration of Twelfth Night” has been about, yes, the performance — the revel that marks Epiphany with a grand theater piece melding music, dance, acting and pageantry.

But it has also been about family and community and tradition. Those who were once children toddling onto the “Twelfth Night” stage have grown into its skilled leaders.

To wit: Since he started with “Twelfth Night” 20 years ago at the age of 12, Andrew Howell has gone from passing out props and helping with videography to leading the chorus; in 2012, he became the group’s music director. And his three young children have been following in his enthusiastic “Twelfth Night” footsteps; they are all part of this year’s festivities.

Then, too, you have Aimée Blanchette, who has been stage manager for 15 “Twelfth Nights.” She was first carried onto the “Twelfth Night” stage as a baby and, in later years, played roles from cake kid to banner bearer to court lady. And, as with many folks in “Twelfth Night,” it’s all relative. Both of Blanchette’s parents were singers in the chorus. Her brother, Harvey, has been a “Twelfth Night” regular and took over the demanding job of writing each year’s script after beloved founder Anne Utter became ill and died in 2006.

This year, though, the annual theatrical rite is coming to a close. When Jim Lawson as Father Christmas delivers his culminating “Now have good day” speech, and when the bell named in Utter’s honor rings this weekend, it will be a grand finale.

Chorus leaders announced this autumn that, after four decades, they would stage the final “Celebration of Twelfth Night” to make more time for the chorus to devote to new projects. Those fresh efforts being considered include recording an album, performing more on the road, expanding educational programs and doing outreach in local schools.

Howell, who became music director when chorus founder George Kent retired, would like the organization to get the chance to focus more on choral art.

“I fully understand the value of (“Twelfth Night’) and all of the things that make it so wonderful. And yet, at the same time, we have had a fantastic 40-year run,” he said.

And there is this: It’s possible “Twelfth Night” could return in the future, although, if it did, it would likely be in a different form. “I really do look forward to bringing it back at some point ... but we don’t have any idea when exactly that’s going to happen,” Howell said.

“A Celebration of Twelfth Night” takes a lot of time and work from the chorus and from all the other volunteers. It is a massive, multifaceted undertaking.

It features a new script each year, so it requires a new production built around certain established elements, which include the Abbott’s Bromley Horn Dance, the Boar’s Head Carol and a scene where a king and queen are chosen from the audience by who finds a bean in slices of cake.

It pulls together a cast of about 100, augmented by the 200-member chorus. That means youngsters on up. Professional performers mingle with local amateurs. There are actors and dancers and puppeteers and jesters. People toil offstage, too, sewing costumes and building monsters (last year’s beast was a 40-foot dragon).

The rehearsals are jammed into about two weeks, starting the day after Christmas.

And everything about the show is open to change.

“We’re refining right until Friday night,” said Lawson. “It’s really an evolving piece. I’m always astounded that it comes together.”

He said it’s unlike anything else he’s ever worked on.

Choreographer Robin Rice, too, spoke to the production’s uniqueness: “This is probably the most exciting and interesting creative-process vehicle I’ve worked in ... I will miss the way everybody comes together and rises to the occasion and comes up with things we didn’t even know we were going to come up with.”

The story of this year’s “Celebration of Twelfth Night” revolves around the four seasons — in this case, four siblings who are dealing with a bit of rivalry. Summer banishes winter, which, naturally, causes problems. (Twelfth Night, or the Feast of Epiphany, dates back to the Middle Ages and is a festival of rebirth.)

Lawson noted that this year’s script deals with letting things go and with the passage of time and the seasons. In other words, it’s a neat metaphor for letting “A Celebration of Twelfth Night” go.

This all comes, naturally, with its share of emotion.

“You definitely have some people already crying,” Lawson said earlier this week. “And it’s like, “We’re not even up yet, guys.’”

To hear some folks tell it, though, they are consumed with producing a final “Twelfth Night” and so aren’t getting too sentimental about its passing — at least not yet.

“I don’t think I’m going to fully feel it till next year because I’m pretty busy doing this year’s show,” said Blanchette, who teaches history at Chariho High School in Wood River Junction, R.I. “I’ve had a lot of teachers who’ve retired tell me you don’t really know you’ve retired till the next year.”

“Twelfth Night” stalwarts fully expect to be at loose ends a year from now.

Lawson, who grew up in Greenville, R.I., but now lives in New York City, said that he’ll have to relearn all the Christmas holiday rituals — he usually spends the time around Christmas studying the script — and joked that he’ll probably be wandering around Hell’s Kitchen reciting the “Have good day” speech.

Rice said some people have already been talking about whether they can just get together and laugh and have dinner.

Paying homage to Utter

When reminiscing about “Twelfth Night,” people tend to reflect most on the human element and, in particular, Anne Utter. Director Derron Wood recalled the plant she gave him — a type of night-blooming cereus that only blooms for one night each year. Rice talked about a book, Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Nightingale,” that Utter gave her as a thank you when Rice played the role of a nightingale in “Twelfth Night.”

“She was just so very supportive, so completely filled with love,” Rice says.

They chatted fondly, too, about the cast’s youngest members. Blanchette reflected on the kids — usually ages 2 to 4 — who bring the crowns down the center aisle at the appropriate time. On occasion, though, youngsters don’t return up the aisle as they are supposed to and need to be corralled; “I call it a clean-up on aisle three,” Blanchette said.

Lawson said, “I feel lucky to watch these children light up from this. They take it so seriously.” He remembered one of his current co-stars — Yale drama student Andrew Burnap — when he was just a child doing his first “Twelfth Night.”

As for this year’s show, the team is keeping this the same “Twelfth Night” that people “keep coming back to,” Howell said.

Indeed, Wood, who is directing his 15th “Celebration of Twelfth Night,” said the finale isn’t going to be more over the top than usual — simply because the production is always over the top.

“You can’t really go to 11 when you’re already at 11,” he said.

He is, though, working into the production a way to pay homage to Utter. The show always boasts the final ringing of a bell 12 times. He’s having the bell, which the chorus named after Anne Utter, on stage this year to honor her memory.

This finale is clearly bittersweet for people who have made working on “A Celebration of Twelfth Night” an annual ritual — but they understand the reasoning behind it as well.

Aimée Blanchette said she thinks it’s time for Howell “to have the time and space to pursue some of his particular passions and new ideas. At one point, “Twelfth Night’ was a brand new idea. At one point, the chorus was only 16 years old and this was a brand new idea that Anne Utter, who was an amazing, central part of the chorus story, had, and Bunky (George Kent) said, “OK, let’s do it.’ ...

“I feel like we are resting the show at the right time,” she said. “I think it’s an incredible achievement or accomplishment to have created 40 of these — a product that is such a true labor of love on the part of so many people.”

k.dorsey@theday.com

A sold-out finale

All performances of the Chorus of Westerly's 40th “Celebration of Twelfth Night” are sold out. If, though, patrons want to be added to the waiting list, they should call the chorus box office at (401) 596-8663. Tickets for tonight's 7:30 preview are $17. Tickets for shows at 2 and 6 p.m. Saturday and Sunday range from $23 to $70. Performances are at the George Kent Performance Hall, 119 High St., Westerly.