A broken family is brought together by the death of a beloved uncle in the upcoming theater production “August: Osage County,” which will be shown Sept. 22 and 23 at 7 p.m. and Sept. 24 at 2 p.m. Tickets are $10 for adults and $7 for students.

“I’m hoping the audience [is] given an opportunity to see certain problems that are in our world and society,” director Brad Durio said. “Maybe shed some light on some things that some people aren’t really always willing to talk about.”

The theater department has been rehearsing every Monday through Saturday for the past five weeks to prepare.

“This is a challenging play for teenagers because [it’s] different from any other play we have done,” Durio said. “Each of the actors have done a great job of practicing challenging literature and situations; they’ve been very mature about it and got a lot accomplished.”

The actors enjoy portraying different characters, especially from this play because it goes into a more mature aspect of drama.

“The hardest part for me personally [is] when there is a conflict that arises I don’t like to handle it in front of people,” senior Jay Teamer said. “[My character] Charlie acknowledges the conflict and squashes the situation in front of people. That’s not me. I prefer to let it brew over, give it a day or two and then talk about it behind closed doors. Trying to find the subtext of what he is really saying rather than what he is actually saying has been the challenge of this role for me.”

Even the understudies (backup actors) of the actors have their own responsibilities to take care of. All parts, no matter how small, have an impact on the outcome of the play.

“I’ve never been an understudy before so kind of trying to juggle two characters at once was really hard,” junior Brenden Fite said. “Getting the blocking, tactics and storyboard for both characters is a long process.”

The cast and crew of this play have enjoyed working with the directors in several previous shows.

“It’s always a good time to work with the directors; I have been through quite a few shows with [them],” Teamer said. “I think the best part of being a part of this department is that there is so much life and joy to be shared. You don’t experience this anywhere else but theater.”