BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – This summer Theatre UAB will present “The Thousand and One Nights,” the immortal fantasy tales adapted for young audiences by UAB Playwright in Residence Lee Shackleford, M.F.A. The production will be performed at 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. June 7-8 and June 13-15 and at 10 a.m. June 9 and June 16, in the Alys Stephens Center’s Odess Theatre, 1200 10th Ave. S. It will then tour, to be performed by request at some daycares, churches and schools in Jefferson and select neighboring counties June 18-29. The play is recommended for children ages 6 to 12 years and is made possible in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

Tickets for shows at the Alys Stephens Center are $3 per person and all tickets, single or group, must be reserved in advance. Tours within Jefferson County are $50 per performance; tours outside Jefferson County are $100 per performance plus round trip mileage costs. For information, tickets or to book performances, call 205-934-3237.

The new stage play is based on the centuries-old stories known collectively as “The Thousand and One Nights,” Shackleford said. A young woman named Shahrazad narrates the stories in this stage version, just as in the book. She tells the tales to amuse the tyrannical king who plans to have her executed as soon as he grows bored with her stories, so each adventure she tells must be more exciting than the last. Sometimes called “The Arabian Nights” because most are set in Arabia, some stories originated in India, Egypt and even ancient Greece.

“We first planned to act out the most familiar of the stories,” said Shackleford. “But I realized we shouldn’t simply repeat what other people have done, not when there are so many exciting stories in the collection.” While Aladdin, Sinbad and Ali Baba appear briefly in the play, Shackleford’s adaptation focuses on lesser-known tales such as “The Prince and the Tortoise,” “The Enchanted Horse” and “The Tale of Peri Banou.”