Rice to greet children at ‘Beauty and the Beast’

Photo Provided Tiffany Rice of Parkersburg will be in character as Belle, a fictional character who appears in Walt Disney Pictures’ feature film “Beauty and the Beast,” at 6 p.m. Saturday outside Graham Auditorium at Washington State Community College in Marietta.
MARIETTA — Cynthia Puls of Parkersburg has added a feature to Saturday’s free showing of the film “Beauty and the Beast” at Washington State Community College.
At 6 p.m. Saturday, an hour before the movie is shown in Graham Auditorium at WSCC, Tiffany Rice of Parkersburg will be in character as Belle, a fictional person from the movie, outside the auditorium. This will be an opportunity for children to get their picture taken with Rice and talk to her, said Puls.
“Beauty and the Beast” is part of the Evergreen Arts & Humanities Series at Washington State Community College, said Puls, series director. Puls is a member of the Trillium Piano Trio and founder/director of The Cello Company in Parkersburg.
Meeting with Rice as Belle should be fun for the children, Puls said. It will add to the film, she said.
The film will be shown at 7 p.m. Saturday at WSCC, located at 710 Colegate Drive, Marietta, with doors opening at 6:30 p.m. Admission is free, but seating is limited.
The critically acclaimed film stars Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as the prince/beast. It is a retelling of Disney’s 1991 classic with refashioned characters for a contemporary audience.
Belle, a bright, beautiful and independent young woman, is held prisoner in a castle by a beast. Despite her fears, she befriends the castle’s enchanted staff and learns to look beyond the beast’s hideous exterior, allowing her to recognize the kind heart and soul of the true prince that hides on the inside.
This film is described as a musical romantic fantasy movie directed by Bill Condon from a screenplay written by Stephen Chbosky and Evan Spiliotopoulos, and co-produced by Walt Disney and Maneville Films. The film is based on an adaptation of Jeanne-Marie Leprince de Beaumont’s 18th century fairy tale.