Roanoke College Theatre Productions gave South Salem and GW Carver elementary schools a preview of its “Jack and the Wonderbeans” production. The final performance of the interactive play will be at 3 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 6 in Olin Hall Theatre at the college. Admission is a new, unwrapped toy for Toys for Tots or a ticket price of $2 for children under 11, $5 for 12 and up. A story set in Appalachia, Jack’s “mam” sends him to sell their dry cow so that they can buy food. This play is a little different than the regular old kiddie play about a tall tale. Four audience members actually get to take part in the acting by being cows and chickens, and the audience is asked to create the sound effects. Jack, played by Roanoke College student Ryan Webster, acts from within the audience, hiding, as he avoids being made into a “tadwhacker stew.”

There’s one more thing that might be surprising to elementary audience members, too. Jack and his mother speak real Appalachian, and some of the words they use haven’t been heard around these parts in quite a while. And most of those words are pretty fun to say! Some include: tadwhacker (a small child), sass (vegetables), crumble-in (bread crumbled in a bowl of milk sprinkled with sugar), poke (bag or sack), shike-poke (bag of bones).

For more information, call Lisa Warren at 375-2355.