The Washington High School Playmakers will present their family theater night production, Big Bad, this weekend.

The play will be held on Friday and Saturday nights, starting at 7 p.m. Tickets are $3 per person and children under 5 are admitted free. The play, by Alex Strum, is a family comedy centered around the trial of the Big Bad Wolf for his many crimes against Little Red Riding Hood, the Three Little Pigs and the Boy Who Cried Wolf, said Travis Carter, director and theater teacher at WHS. The trial is a civil trial, in which the three parties sue the Wolf for damages.

“This is one of our family theater night productions,” Carter said. “It is always geared for the whole family — it’s a little bit shorter, ticket prices are cheaper and it’s more family-oriented so the family can come out and do something together.”

Carter said the play will feature laughs and surprises galore, and the audience will act as the jury to decide the Wolf’s fate. According to senior cast member Alexis Murdock, who will play the role of the Big Bad Wolf, the audience will have three options to choose from, deciding her fate.

Senior cast member Rachel Alligood, who plays the Wicked Stepmother, the Wolf’s counsel, said she is really excited about the play. Usually, she plays characters that are “sweet,” but in this role, she has to defend the Wolf, and after deciding she likes him, she ends up working hard to defend his innocence, Alligood said.

“I’m just really excited to play a character who gets to be so sinister,” Alligood said. “It’s different from any character I’ve gotten to play because it’s usually sweet. We just have to remember to keep excited because fairy tale characters are always happy — except when they’re evil.”

Murdock commented on she and Alligood teaming up, in a sense, for what will be their last family theater night production together.

“I want to convince everyone that I’m a good wolf,” Murdock said. “And I just let my counsel do that for me, and I just sit there and I’m like, ‘Wow, she’s doing really good.’ She’s doing great while she’s defending me, and I make the jury feel sorry for me. There are three different endings they (audience) can do. It’s up to them. They choose my fate.

“It’s really emotional because this will be my last play, and we’re like a family.”

Alligood echoed Murdock’s comments about the play being the last one they will perform in together.

“It’s kind of sad but I’m happy about it because I love the theater program,” Alligood said. “But I am going to be sad because this is my last family theater night.”

Tickets for the WHS Playmakers production of “Big Bad” can be purchased from a cast member or at the door.