SPANISH FORT, Ala.—Looking for a little family-friendly entertainment this holiday season?

Spanish Fort Middle School has the answer Nov. 29 when it presents “A Christmas Carol,” the first theatrical production in the school’s history.

While Bob Cratchit, Tiny Tim and Ebenezer Scrooge will certainly take center stage, the ghosts of Christmas past, present and future are expected  to deliver haunting performances as well.

 “(The students) have been working very hard, and I think they’re starting to get excited,” said director Josie Calloway, who teaches eighth-grade English and literature at SFMS.

“They’ve got all their lines memorized, and I get to see the costumes on Monday. So we’re getting really close,” she said.

Although it is only her third year at SFMS, Calloway has been teaching English for 18 years and has directed plays in the past. Because the Charles Dickens classic is already part of her curriculum, she said Principal Craig Ross encouraged her to pursue the project.

Thirty-six students will test their acting chops and another four are helping out behind the scenes, Calloway said, with several performances packing their schedules during the production’s two-day run.

The Victorian-era novella on which the play is based is a tale of transformation and redemption for quintessential curmudgeon Scrooge, a character who has become synonymous over the past 167 years with the exclamation, “Bah Humbug.”

The public performance begins at 7 p.m. Nov. 29 in the SFMS cafetorium with tickets $10 for adults and $5 for children 10 and under.

Sixth- and half of the seventh-graders will attend a performance at 1:15 p.m. Nov. 29, while eighth- and the other half of the seventh-graders will see the play at the same time Nov. 30.

Calloway said Spanish Fort Elementary School students have been invited to attend a Nov. 29 show, and Rockwell students will get their chance Nov. 30.

Student tickets are $3.