Austin High School students are getting ready to showcase their talents on the big stage with this year’s three-act play.

The Austin High School Drama Department will present “Charley’s Aunt”  Thursday through Saturday at Christgau Hall in the high school. The show starts at 7 p.m. each night and tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students.

“It’s kind of written almost like a melodrama and modern day farce,” Director Gordy Handeland said. “The audience is in on it the whole time.”

The three-act comedy was written by Brandon Thomas and was first produced in 1892. Charley and Jack are anxious to have their girlfriends visit them but they need a chaperone. At first, Charley’s aunt is coming to visit and can be the chaperone. But the boys receive a telegram informing them that the aunt is delayed. Now, they have to find a replacement for their chaperone so they don’t have to cancel the visit, and the two devise a plan to replace and disguise their aunt with their friend — their male friend.

And thus starts a chain of events that will leave the audience laughing by the end of the night.

“It’s obviously a guy, and my guy is about 6-foot-5-inches so he towers over everybody,” Handeland laughed.

Handeland said the cast is excited, and though it’s a different type of play with less modern customs, it’s been a learning experience for the students. The cast started practicing in mid-January and is ready for the show to start.

“They know what to expect and they’re laughing and they know their characters,” he said.

He hopes the students and the audience walk away with an appreciation of different types of shows, even if the morals and attitudes were different.

“They don’t have to be brand new shows,” he said. “It’s high morals, these people back then were pretty squeaky clean, they didn’t want any scandals.”

Handeland said the show is for any age group, although the younger children might not understand some of the jokes. He hoped for a big audience to support the students this season.