Tongue-in-cheek twists on classic fairy tale

In the cast list, John Vance is called "storyteller."

But it may seem like he's doubling for comedic actor/director Mel Brooks when Vance guides the action on the Seney-Stovall stage Friday and Saturday.

"I'm referring to it as JV Productions' first fractured fairy tale," he said. "I've always been interested in parodies. I think it's a very rich aspect of our humor."

Vance's latest original work "Snow" is a take-off on the fairy tale "Snow White," made famous by the Brothers Grimm and Walt Disney.

In his version, written strictly for adults, Snow's last name is Weiss. She doesn't live in the forest but New York. And she has her talents set on Broadway.

Her washed-up actress stepmother Envita, meanwhile, is gunning for her young daughter.

Thug Joey Cacciatori is Envita's hatchet man. His assassination attempt fails, of course, with Snow fleeing her family's Park Avenue condo with the "off-the-wall" Mirror, whose wit remains as sharp as ever.

They end up in a group home in Brooklyn, known as the residence of Outcasts of Atlantic and Flatbush Streets, aka OAFS. There, you won't ever see Bashful. Too scared. Mary Denise, with initials M.D., is the smartest of the seven OAFs. And NAPoleon exhibits a penchant for constant sleeping.

"We don't take ourselves too seriously," Vance said.

Vance, who wrote the script and is directing the play, will serve as a narrator prone to interruptions from his cast of "overgrown children." They include his own daughter, Hope Vance, 30, who's playing Snow, and Mary Denise, aka Doc.

While the set and costumes are modern in time, the way in which the actors deal with each other and the storyteller will replicate stagecraft from another era.

"In Victorian music hall performances, you'd have someone who is the chairman of the evening, talking directly to the audience," he explained. "They'll often break their characters to talk, kibitz and harass the chairman."

Trading wits with actors is how the University of Georgia English professor first came up with the idea for Snow about 14 years ago. At the time, Vance worked with an actress he pegged right away as a perfect Snow, which led him to draft seven pages.

He put the satire aside after she moved away, picking it up again last year after a group of his acting friends read his draft over dinner. They are how "Snow" is introduced.

Describing them as "a bunch of overgrown kids who can't get to sleep," Vance explained how they want to hear a story and call him out to tell them a fairy tale.

They decide acting out the "raucous" story themselves would be more fun, which leads to a naughty kind of bedtime saga, ripe for Athens and Snow's Big Apple alike.

"There will be all kinds of humor, from the worst pun to bawdy, sexual puns and ribald," Vance said. "It's all self- conscious."

'Snow'

An adult parody of the classic fairy tale "Snow White," presented by JV Productions

When: 8 p.m. Friday and SaturdayWhere: Seney-Stovall Chapel, 201 N. Milledge Ave.

Cost: $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and students

Call: (706) 543-2012 for information

This show is not intended for children.

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