The Christmas panto at the Norwich Arts Center is returning for the first time after things shut down because of the pandemic.

This British-style panto presents a fairy-tale farce with music, and it includes broad characters, jokes, local references and audience participation.

This year’s production is a version of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” written by Diana Bishop and Faye Ringel. It’s directed by Mary Kay Kelleher and meant for all ages.

Bishop brought the panto to Norwich in 2017, and with the hope that it would return once the pandemic eased, she began writing a new piece. But she died in February 2021. Her former co-worker at the Coast Guard Academy, Faye Ringel, completed the work, as a way to commemorate Bishop’s legacy.

The show also marks the return of theater to the Donald L. Oat Theater at the NAC, of which Ringel is co-president.

“The Emperor’s New Clothes,” Dec. 9-18, Norwich Arts Center, 62 Broadway, Norwich; $20 adults, $18 senior, military, student, NAC members, and free for kids under 10; (860) 887-2789, norwicharts.org.