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D&E presenting student production ‘A Grimm Adventure’

Play is written and directed by senior Joshua Thompson

ELKINS — Some not-so-familiar fairy tale characters and a dash of humor are what audience members can expect when Davis & Elkins College presents the upcoming student production “A Grimm Adventure.”

Set at 8 p.m. Thursday to Saturday and at 2 p.m. Sunday in the Boiler House Theatre, the original production is written and directed by D&E senior Joshua Thompson.

Admission is free and donations will be accepted to help defray the cost of student attendance to a technical theater conference.

“It’s a Gothic comedy that takes the original Brothers Grimm fairy tales and twists them,” Thompson said about the play he created for his senior capstone project.

The twists come in the form of the characters. In “A Grimm Adventure,” Cinderella, portrayed by Sarah Gustafson of Bridgeport, is the villain who enslaves her stepmother (Hope Roy of Parsons) and stepsister Belle (Abby Sowards of Huntington). Not the evil one in this production, the stepsister escapes and is transformed into various fairy tale characters in an exciting quest to save her mother and herself.

Thompson, a native of Parsons, said he came up with the idea for the play after reading “The Original Folk and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm” and “The Grimm Diaries,” a work that combines the personas of some of the best-known fairy tale characters.

Thompson promises the audience also will have a few laughs along the way and leave thinking about family values.

“It’s chock-full of jokes, and some of the other characters Belle comes across aren’t so scary,” he said. “It also sends the message of what constitutes a family and what you’re willing to go through to fight for it.”

Additional cast members are Clay Freil of Hillsboro; Nathaniel Fornash of Huntington; Maddie Lessner of Waldorf, Maryland; Ashley Haywood of Cabin Creek; Shannen McClure of Marlinton; Max Ginsberg of Fairfax, Virginia; and Destiny Owens of Milton, Florida.

The crew is made up of Megan Tuley, stage manager, of Vienna; Shelby Pemberton, lights, of Monongahela, Pennsylvania; Megan Walters, house manager, of Charmco; Katie Varchetto, costumes, of Elkins; Denise Folley, makeup and hair, of Charlottesville, Virginia; D&E Technical Director in the Division of Creative Arts Eric Armstrong, scenic design; and Blake Boswell, art design, of Belpre, Ohio. Thompson received administrative and directorial support from D&E Instructor of Theatre Ruth Humphrey, Assistant Professor of Theatre Bridget Esterhuizen and Artist-in-Residence Jim Warren.

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