'Beauty and the Beast Bed & Breakfast' puts a comic spin on fairy-tale characters

Franklin Regional Middle School teacher Christine Klemstine wanted to hear the frustration in student Brynn Lacey’s voice.

“This woman called the cops on you,” Klemstine said. “You have to be a little louder — I know you can yell!”

Klemstine and Lacey, 13, were in rehearsal for the middle school’s upcoming production of “Beauty and the Beast Bed & Breakfast,” a comedic one-act play that wonders what exactly “ever after” might mean for a handful of fairy-tale characters.

Stricken with a hairy curse that’s only cured by hospitality, Henri/The Beast and his wife Belinda open their castle as a bed-and-breakfast, attracting several other barely disguised names such as porridge super-fan Goldie Locks, magic bean salesman Jack B. Stalk, and the mysterious Bonnie Redcap.

When Redcap’s basket is stolen, the Police Investigators Global Group International, or PIGGI for short, begin investigating.

Klemstine said members of the middle school theater group wanted something a little lighter after last year’s “Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane,” an emotional play about a china rabbit that falls into the ocean and goes on a journey of self-discovery.

The group was initially created by high school teacher Richard Sunny, who hoped to build a feeder system for the high school’s Thespian Club, Klemstine said.

“Every year 1,000 kids go out for the musical, but the plays draw from a much smaller group,” she said. “We wanted to be able to start that at a younger age. We have a good group of eighth graders who’ll be moving up next year.”

That includes Jessica Carswell, who plays Agent Market, one of the PIGGI detectives.

“The time crunch for this is the biggest challenge,” said Carswell, 13. “We have about a month to put this show together.”

Brad Jessup, 11, a sixth-grader, is playing Henri and The Beast.

“It’s great being someone that you’re not,” Jessup said.

Klemstine said she’s worked to make sure students are investing the proper emotion in their performances.

“All acting is reacting — the line has a purpose,” she said. ‘You’re not saying it for yourself. And so I want them to understand the purpose of the lines and how to convey that to the audience.”

“Beauty and the Beast Bed & Breakfast” will take place at 7 p.m. Oct. 9-10 at the Franklin Regional Middle School, 4660 Old William Penn Highway in Murrysville.

Tickets are $5 and are available at the door and in advance at Ticketleap.com/ticketleap-events — enter “beauty and the beast bed & breakfast” in the search box.