COEUR d'ALENE - The classic stories collected by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm are spun into a madcap, comedic frolic through fairy tale land in Troupe de Wolfe Productions' staging of "The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon."

The play, being performed this weekend and next weekend at Lake City High School, is a mash-up of 209 Grimm tales that are all told at breakneck speed in a not-so-classic way.

"People will love it. It's got a very outrageous sense of humor," said Jeremiah Gookin, a senior and cast member.

"The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon" hangs on to many of the dark, sobering elements regularly found in Grimms' collected stories - witches that like to cook and eat children, wolves looking for people to chow down on, and moms and step-moms with less than stellar parenting skills. But it's all twisted into a witty comedy billed as telling "the 'true' untold stories of the fairy tale characters we know and love."

The two-act play includes a cavalcade of characters, with 45 costume changes in the first act alone, and just five cast members.

One of Gookin's larger roles he said he enjoys playing is Rapunzel. Yes, he's a boy playing a female character. There's a lot of that in the Grimm Spectaculathon, and it amplifies the slapstick factor.

In this show, Rapunzel is a snobby teenager who at one point becomes distraught by the lack of cell phone service in her tower. When the character mouths off to her mom, her father replies: "Don't talk to your mother that way. She sold her soul to the devil just to have you."

Kelly Stagner, a junior who plays one of two narrators and several characters, said she loves being in this play.

"I've been in theater for four years and this is definitely unlike any show I've ever done before," Stagner said.

Playing multiple characters in a quickly moving story is challenging, but that's what makes it fun for an actor, she said.

There are character connections that pull all the fairy tales together, adding some surprises to a show based on classic, well-known stories.

Stagner shared one of the secrets: "Gretal, it turns out, is Rapunzel's mother."

The play includes frequent calls for audience participation.

Sandra Seaton, LCHS drama instructor and Grimm Spectaculathon director, said the play is for all ages, but parents of young children should be warned it includes mild innuendo, references to guns and comic stage violence.

"We want to make sure people know this is not Disney," Seaton said.

Seniors Kole Smith and Johnny Rider, and sophomore student Sydney Bell round out the cast.

If you go

Performances: Oct. 11-13 and 18-20 at 7 p.m. at Lake City High School, 6101 Ramsey Road, Coeur d'Alene.

Ticket prices: $7 general admission, $5 students and senior citizens

Advance tickets can be purchased from Karen in the school office and will be available at the door each night.

Information: 769-0769 or sseaton@cdaschools.org