Eighth-graders at Fulton Middle School invite the public to join them for an evening of entertainment on Monday.
For one night only, they'll be performing their unique musical "The Untold Story" at the Allbritton Theatre at Fulton High School. Admission is free, and the performance begins at 7 p.m. following a choir concert at 6 p.m.
"Each of us is a fairy tale character, and we're at a New Year's Eve party," Samantha Cooke, who plays Sleeping Beauty, said. "We have to get back to our own stories before the clock strikes midnight or we'll disappear. And then two of us go missing."
If that plot sounds unfamiliar, it's because it's an original story written by eighth-graders in the Arts Alive class. Students also composed and wrote several original songs to accompany the 35-to-40-minute performance.
"Everything that's going to happen Monday - good, bad or in the middle - is coming from the kids," their teacher, Bethany Moebes, said during practice. "They've surpassed my wildest dreams."
This is the first year FMS has offered the class, Moebes said. A former opera performer, she first had the class analyze the opera "Ada" by Giuseppi Verdi, and then started them brainstorming to write their own.
She expected the children to write perhaps five-10 minutes of dialogue and one or two songs. Instead, they came up with an entire show.
"They were so scared at first, but then they got excited," Moebes said.
She's already excited about what next semester's Arts Alive class could do, and hopes to partner with other performing arts programs in the future.
Fellow teacher and accompanist Daphne Sayler said the students did the heavy lifting when it came to composing.
"They sang what they wanted (each song) to sound like, and I figured out what key and feel they were going for," she said. "They impressed me with their originality."
Kiah Pittman, who plays Cinderella, is one of the characters kidnapped by the evil fairy Maleficent - whom Cinderella thought had left villainy behind. She has a dramatic solo where she pleads to Maleficent to "please stay and be good." She wrote the song and melody herself, with some help from a friend.
"I found the perfect one for me," Pittman said. "My favorite part of the play is when I'm in the cage and I get to sing my song."
Pittman said she's spent a lot of time thinking about her character's motivation and learning how to express emotions onstage.
Cooke also helped compose songs.
"I really like writing lyrics," she said. "You just kinda start humming something and put words to it."
While Cooke and another student had prior theater experience, for the rest - including Pittman - this will be their first time on stage.
Brynn Bynum, who plays Beast, is among the first-timers.
"It's a love story - a get-back-together story," Bynum said.
And like all good fairy tales, there's a happy ending.