The Christian theater group, Players of the Stage, presented “Love Labours Happily Ever After,” an original play written and directed by Sharon Pamela Barshinger Gerdes June 16, 17 and 18.

A dramatic collision between several of Shakespeare’s comedies and the most beloved Disney fairy tales creates the foundation for the play that takes a poke at the concept of love at first sight.

According to Gerdes, this is the second full-length play she has written.

The process, she said, began over a year ago as a search for an enjoyable play for kids.

But through the creative process, the idea morphed into a much larger project.

“Last spring I was looking for fairy tales to do for a play because I thought that would be a lot of fun, our kids would enjoy it,” Gerdes said. “Every story was either too simple, too silly or not serious enough for me, so I thought I would just write my own.”

And from there the process began.

Gerdes said after contemplating princess after princess, she was unable to choose.

“I couldn’t figure out which lady to adapt, so as I was thinking about the plot line, I thought about how similar they all seemed,” she said. “So, I thought, well, why not just do a big play with all the characters in it!”

After focusing on the characters Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White and Princess Aurora, Gerdes needed to develop the characters of four men who would be their princes.

It was then the Shakespeare connection began to take root.

“Once I had the princesses, I thought about the four men who would have to be their princes,” Gerdes said. “I thought of ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost.’

“The play starts out with four guys who take a vow to forsake love to do noble things; and I thought, well wouldn’t it be so fun to do ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost’ with these fairytale characters.”

Gerdes takes the audience through many of the major points of ‘Love’s Labour’s Lost in the play,’ but said it was not quite long enough for a full-length play, so she also pulled content from Shakespeare’s ‘Macbeth,’ ‘Midsummer’s Night Dream’ and ‘As You Like it’ to make its own complete story arc.

Gerdes wrote the play with the younger audience in mind, trying to counter what the fairy tale exemplifies.

“You meet the guy, you immediately fall in love with him, you live happily ever after,” Gerdes said. “That’s not how relationships work and you shouldn’t just marry the guy that you see for the first time and the importance of working through relationship problems.”

Most important, said Gerdes, she wants her actors and the audience to have fun while questioning the logic of a fairy tale world and marrying someone that you’ve just met.

Many talented thespians present this play, allowing for two casts of 27, though the major roles are played by the same actors in both casts.

Ella, short for Cinderella, played by Bethany Linder, is the most headstrong of the princesses.

“She is very self-determined, loves helping others and encouraging them to be courageous and stand up for themselves,” Linder said. “She doesn’t let her station define who she is and finds her worth from an inner sense of just knowing what she deserves.”

Ella’s prince in the play is Kit, played by Daniel Goonewardene.

“Kit is a very proud and pretentious character, but he definitely has a soft side and as you the play progresses, you can definitely see that between him and Ella,” Goonewardene said.

The second of the four princesses is Rapunzel, played by Natalie Sampsell.

“Rapunzel has been living in a tower all her life,” Sampsell said. “When she gets the chance to go out and go on an adventure, she learns a lot about friendship and good and evil. She gets a lot of life experience.”

Rapunzel’s prince is the strong yet simple Eugene played by Carter Wiren.

“Eugene is a very sarcastic dude who takes most of the situations they are in and uses it for his amusement,” Wiren said. “He eventually softens and learns lessons throughout his journey in the play.”

Another fairytale couple, Snow White and Ferdinand of Brunswick, have a sing-song relationship throughout the play.

“Ferdinand is a very humble, noble, proud character,” actor Mark Ingram said. “He is very much in love with Snow White and he definitely wants to follow her around wherever she was at.”

Snow White, played by Hannah Mills, is a bit naïve and Ferdinand has to work for her love.

“She is a very fun loving individual who cares about the dwarfs deeply,” Mills said. “She is very excited for all the couples to be in love.”

Perhaps the shyest of the princesses is Aurora, who through her prince, Philip, evolves into a strong young woman.

“She’s very shy and hesitant, but when she meets Philip she starts to become her own person and love who she is,” Naomi Mills said. “She learns to help other people and not be scared for herself.”

And what fairy tale would be complete without good and evil?

Maleficent, played by Amanda Rapp represents evil, and the Fairy Godmother, played by Elizabeth Buonanno, represents good.

“My character has provided more challenges than I expected, and playing the Fairy Godmother has really stretched me,” Buonanno said. “This play shows the audience that love is more than a fairytale.”

Buonanno notes her favorite line in the play is spoken by Ella; “Love is earned and cultivated and tended.”

According to executive director Elisabeth Barshinger, the play marks the end of the group’s 15th season.

Through generous donations of theater goers from across the Lehigh Valley, the group raises thousands of dollars with each production; and all money raised goes to local charities.

With the presentation of the original “Loves Labours Happily Every After,” Players of the Stage hopes to raise at least $5,000 for the Truth for Women Center, specifically, Truth Home, Bethlehem.

Gerdes explains her passion for the organization.

“This is our third show we’ve done specifically for the Truth Home, a safe house for victims of sex trafficking,” Gerdes said. “I’m so excited to be able to do it for them.

“It’s such an important thing that they do. A lot of girls get trafficked when they are around 12 and then they’re stuck in a system.

“They are kept through coercive means to stay with their pimps, so to have a place in the Lehigh Valley that seeks to rescue and restore these victims who are often portrayed as the problem.”