Warren Township High School Theatre presents “The Cause” this weekend

Warren Theatre presents the world premiere production of “The Cause” this weekend at the O’Plaine Campus.

By Chicago playwright Warwick Johnson (warwickjohnson.com), “The Cause” is about a group of students at the James School, a prestigious American boarding school, and their discovery of the sinister nature behind the school’s intentions.

The story follows Mason Bell (played by senior Tyler Cruz), a strong-willed student who organizes a revolution against the school’s headmaster (senior Ethan Jesse) and rallies his classmates to believe in a better world than what the James School is offering.

Johnson wrote “The Cause” exclusively for Warren Theatre and has been an integral part of the rehearsal process. He has attended rehearsals and made script changes based on student feedback. Moreover, the students have even written new scenes that will appear in the final production. Johnson and members of the cast and crew will be a part of a post-show talk following Friday’s performance.

The show features seniors Abi Poynter, Josh Pride, Max Tourt, David Londo, Cyprian Knap-Serek, Tony Scott, Stephanie Brount, Chris Morrissey, Juliana Duncan and Evan Ford; juniors MaKayla Robbins, Cassie Harbeck, Brynne Boyke, Caitlin Cervac, Lars Dahlberg, Jamie Kreppein, Christer Hoeflinger, Makenna Eldridge, Sehseh Sanan and Courtney Pos; sophomores David Prunty, Maggie Gaecke, and Haley Carpenter; and freshmen Michael Knighton, Janelle Detina, Alicia Madden and Julia Dennen.

With a crew of more than 30 students, “The Cause” is the first production of Warren Theatre’s 2012-13 season.

Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for students/seniors and are now available online at http://wths.revtrak.net/tek9.asp?pg=products&grp=37

Performances are at 7 p.m.Thursday, Oct 4 and Friday, Oct 5 (post-show talk back with playwright) and at 7 p.m. Saturday, Oct 6.