Annabelle Warren, right, a student at Colby College, discusses John Green’s “The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet” during a book club meeting March 11 at the Waterville Public Library. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

WATERVILLE — Downtown art installations, film screenings and reading groups are among the attractions and events that have begun in Waterville ahead of author John Green’s keynote speech, planned for April 15 at Colby College.

The free, public event is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. at 600-seat Lorimer Chapel on the Mayflower Hill campus.

Green’s speech is expected to focus on the importance of “play,” followed by a discussion with panelists and a community Q&A.

This event will wrap up a two-year “PLAY!” series, organized by the Center for the Arts and Humanities at Colby. The theme was chosen for its levity, according to Dean Allbritton, the center’s director.

“After the past few years that we’ve had of really difficult times, people were really looking to engage in a kind of fun, interactive manner with a humanities theme like ‘play,'” Allbritton said. “It was one of those things that, when we started talking about play, people were like, ‘Oh, I really want to get in on this.'”

Nathan Dunn, a student on the center’s advisory board, suggested asking Green to serve as the keynote speaker. Dunn grew up reading Green’s books and watching his videos on Crash Course, a digital education series spanning topics in science and history.

All of it was playful, he said.

“If you ever watch any of those videos, you get that there’s a sense of brevity, that it’s educational, while also providing a sense of fun,” Dunn said. “There’s a way that it’s presented, that it can be both educational and engaging, and that’s what we were looking for in sort of bringing that into play.”

Green is looking forward to the theme of “play,” according to Allbritton.

“We reached out to his agent, and he was really excited about the prospect of coming to a college campus, and was excited by the idea of ‘play,’ too,” Allbritton said. “I think he sees a lot of his work as playing, but also a kind of thoughtful play that is really thinking about culture in nuanced ways.”

Retired librarian John Clark, a member of the Waterville Public Library board of trustees and book club facilitator, talks March 11 at the library about his favorite parts of John Green’s “The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet.” Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Attendees are encouraged to bring their own questions for the Q&A planned for after Green’s speech.

Away from campus, Green, the author of the best-seller “The Fault in Our Stars,” is generating much excitement. Bright posters across Waterville advertise a “John Green countdown,” with events at the Waterville Public Library, Waterville Creates and the Maine Film Center.

On March 11, a reading group met on the top floor of the city’s library to discuss Green’s “The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet,” which rates everything from historical events to a tree in the author’s backyard.

Attendees flipped open their books, got out their pencils and began to discuss popcorn.

“What is the best kind of popcorn?” one member wanted to know. “Would it be feasible to eat one’s way out of a room of popcorn?”

This was not the only event at which people were asking big questions. An interactive exhibit in the lobby of the Paul J. Schupf Art Center prompts passersby to rate the Two Cent Bridge, pine trees and, naturally, popcorn.

It is all a nudge toward “The Anthropocene Reviewed.”

A book club meets March 11 at the Waterville Public Library to discuss John Green’s “The Anthropocene Reviewed: Essays on a Human-Centered Planet” in preparation for the best-selling author’s visit to Waterville on April 15. Anna Chadwick/Morning Sentinel

Green’s work does not stop at books. On April 13, the Maine Film Center is scheduled to host a free screening of “The Fault in Our Stars” and a book giveaway.

Mike Perreault, the center’s executive director, said he hopes the event will drive community participation.

“When you have world-renowned artists, whose work is greatly respected, and they come to a community of our size, it’s extremely impactful for the people who get to participate,” Perreault said. “And our goal is to always make those events accessible and engaging and enjoyable.”

A bookend painting event April 12 at the public library is also free and open to the public.

To coordinate events between the library, theater and art center, nine organizers met in January at the Schupf Art Center. Members of the group were flush with ideas for what they could do together, Allbritton said.

“There was something really powerful about, not just that kind of one-off relationship, but: ‘What is the library saying? And what is the Maine Film Center saying? And what does Waterville Creates think?'” Allbritton said. “And bouncing ideas off of each other.”

Perreault said play can happen community members come together in an unexpected way.

“Whether it’s through film, whether it’s through literature or a talk or a presentation, I think play manifests itself when people come together and they are experiencing something new for the first time,” Perreault said. “I think that makes the community stronger.”