The classic story of “Cinderella” will get a comedic twist next week at Fisk Middle School.
Seventh and eighth grade students step into the roles of Cinderella and her cat, two mean-spirited step sisters, the evil stepmother, a prince, the herold, and the fairy godfather in a rendition of “Cinderella, Cinderella.”
Shelby Coleman, drama teacher, said the rights to the show were bought last year, but the school wasn’t able to put it on. When she starting teaching this year, the play was pulled back out to be used.
“It’s pretty funny,” she said. “They’re dressed in full ball gowns. It takes place in the 1300s, so it takes everything to the extreme. There’s not mice, but there’s a cat that talks. It’s super hilarious, kind of cheesy, but in the best way possible.”
While the story follows the overall basic plot of “Cinderella,” it does make a number of changes for comedic effect. For instance, instead of Cinderella’s classic small petite foot, she has a large foot.
Coleman said she and the students have worked to make the show their own with parts such as having a fairy godfather instead of a fairy godmother and a couple line changes. They’ve also made some adjustments to the scenes.
“Being a small school, (we’re) using what we have, but being really creative about it,” she said. “Our crew has gotten really creative with the funds that we had.”
She said the cast had a fundraiser for several weeks in order to have enough money to buy new costumes, including the ball gowns and “make our men feel like they’re actually princes.”
Coleman said she was lucky to be able to have an actual class for the students to rehearse during. Just with the time of year, there’s a lot of extracurricular activities and other projects going on. By having the class, she’s able to spend an hour with them each day to work on the production.
“Having the drama class has made my day, every day, so exciting,” she said. “I love the school that I’m at. It’s ecstatic, I love coming to work, but it’s even better having my drama class at the end of the day. It’s like the icing on the cake every day. It’s been stressful at times, but they just make it great. Trying to figure out finances and with the fundraiser, it can be overwhelming at times, but my kids were really mature enough to take a lot of that responsibility from me and take it for themselves. So, this is really a lot of them and a lot less of me.”
As a team building activity, the students put on a haunted house in October. They turned one of the buildings on campus into a maze that the other students could go through.
This is Coleman’s first play, but she said she has high hopes for it.
“My kids have worked really, really hard,” she said. “I’m super proud of them. Some have donated money, some have donated their time and materials. To be able to come back to the play after that (the haunted house) and work as hard as they have been, it’s really inspiring for me as a teacher to be their teacher.”
The production will be in the Fisk Middle School gym on Friday, Dec. 13, at 5 p.m. They will also put on a show during school hours for the other students and some of the actors’ families.