Beauty and the Beast

The first published version of the fairy tale Beauty and the Beast came out of France in 1740, but it's origins can be traced all the way back to Greek mythology. We'll look at the ancient roots of the classic story, and how every society's version reflects something about its people. We'll also meet the author of a recent re-telling of the story from the Beast's point of view.

Our guests are:

Betsy Hearne, author of many books, including Beauty and the Beast: Visions and Revisions of an Old Tale. She's a professor in the Library and Information Sciences Department at the University of Illinois. She's also going to give the keynote address at a workshop examining Beauty and the Beast presented by the Educational Theater Collaborative on Saturday, January 27th at Plymouth State University's Silver Center for the Arts.

Donna Jo Napoli, author of Beast, a version of Beauty and the Beast for young adults set in Persia and France and told through the eyes of a lion. She's a professor of Linguistics at Swarthmore College.

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The Educational Theater Collaborative is presenting a stage version of Beauty and the Beast at Plymouth State University's Silver Center for the Arts on January 24th through the 28th and at Concord's Capitol Center for the Arts on February 9th.