Just as all of the snow has melted around campus, the SMUGraduate Student Theater department is rolling out the red carpetfor the premiere of “The Snowmaiden.”

The story behind the show comes from the Russian folktale”The Snowmaiden.” It is a fairytale story in which amaiden is made from snow and comes to life.

The snowmaiden is a child of winter and spring. She is verybeautiful, but for some reason, her coldness keeps her from lovinganyone or anything.

In the village where she lives, all the boys love her. But nomatter how hard she tries, she simply cannot love any of them.

Frustrated with her inability to love, she asks her mother togive her the gift of love.

Once she is given the gift of love, she literally melts.

“The production combines the elements ofRussian imagery with the quickly paced staging techniquesof American realism,” theater major Pat Rieger said.

This play is an adaptation of a Russian folktale written byplaywright Aleksander Ostrovsky. The play was adapted by playwrightStephen Drukman and commissioned by SMU for this performance.

The play is directed by Greg Leaming, head of the directingprogram at SMU.

The cast is composed of mostly graduate students including: MattBerg, Kate Cook, Kate Costello, Clarence Gilyard, SebastianKadlecik, Mark Krawczyk, Diana Marino, Katyie Morris, BrianNormoyle, Tim Pyles, Betsy Roth and Melody Stacy.

The show runs Feb. 19 – 22 and Feb. 26 – 29 starting at 8 p.m.Thursday – Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday in the Bob Hope Theatre.