Nine-year-old Tanner Kennedy, center, as James, rehearses a scene from “James and the Giant Peach” with Madeline Fleeger, left, as the Spider, and Mara Flannery as the Lady Bug. The show opens July 25 at the Butler Little Theatre.

The makeup for “James and the Giant Peach” is quite complex and involves latex work, not something you see often in community theater.

Carrie Peters who is also the show's narrator, is working behind the scenes to make the characters come to life, at least cosmetically.

“Every character in 'James and the Giant Peach' is special and unique and I wanted their makeup to portray that,” said Peters.

Before casting even began, Peters started sketching the characters as she would like them to appear. After casting was completed and she had faces to work with, she started designing the pieces for the bugs. The process is not cheap.

“Being a high school student currently unemployed, I have been so grateful for all of the parents who helped in the purchase of the items necessary for this show,” she said.

“I've been molding pieces of clay to specially fit the kids' faces and they have all been very patient with me,” she added.

Once the molds dry, Peters coats them with latex, which dries, and then with a layer of powder, which will have to be painted and become the masks for the characters.

The time consuming process can be daunting.

“There are so many characters that need makeup done, and I haven't even been able to start actually practicing on them yet because we are so busy,” she said.

Peters also did the character makeup for the play “You” at Knoch High School in the spring.

“I've been dabbling in makeup artistry for several years now and plan to earn a cosmetology certificate after graduation,” she said.