Wayne State College’s theatre program will be performing “The Secret in the Wings” this Thursday through Sunday. The performance is a visual exploration through a world of obscure fairy tales with one tale overlapping another just at the brink of disaster.

“The unifying tale is actually ‘Beauty and the Beast,’ but it’s going to be unrecognizable to the audience,” said Mollie Spieker, Communication Arts adjunct instructor and coordinator of “The Secret in the Wings.” “There is nothing Disney about this.”

“The Secret in the Wings” is a mashup of seven different fairy tales that stop at the brink of crisis, and then the second half will be all of the stopped plays resolving. The setting of the play includes a basement, which is actually a metaphor for our imagination.

Spieker picked the play, which was written by Mary Zimmerman, a Nebraska native who is a Tony Award winning playwright. She is also a founding member of Lookingglass Theatre Company in Chicago, which specializes in taking classic stories and staging them in unexpected, interesting ways.

“It has been really interesting because the students have had to improvise a lot of the movement, the blocking, and there has been a very creative element to rehearsals,” said Spieker “They aren’t just coming and doing what they’re told. They have to figure out a way to convey the information, which is different from most plays.”

Brian Begley, director of technical theatre, is the tech director for the play. He designed the set and the lighting, among other things.

Yasuko Taoka, dean of the School of Arts and Humanities, is excited to see how the play will come together in the final works.

“I think the theatre department is really poised for growth,” said Taoka. “They are doing a number of initiatives with electronic media, so a lot of their students acted in the recent film the electronic media program produced.”

“The Secret in the Wings” is $5 admission, but it is free for WSC students, staff and faculty. The performances will be at 7 p.m. in the Black Box Theatre on Thursday, Friday and Saturday and at 3 p.m. on Saturday.