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Long before the first rehearsals for Linganore High School's fall production, director Julian Lazarus unpacked, rearranged, set up and organized box after box to prepare.

Preliminary work in the school's temporary home started almost as soon as school began, and Lazarus was still working out kinks last weekend, a week before the first play.

The drama department will present "The Miracle Worker" today through Sunday on the new stage. The play tells the story of Anne Sullivan and the challenges she faces educating her blind, mute student, Helen Keller.

Two separate casts will perform on different days because of all the talent at Linganore, Lazarus said. "I wasn't going to double cast, but after auditions it was clear that I was going to be able to have two casts," said Lazarus.

Lazarus chose the play because he wanted the first show on the stage to be a classic.

"In 40 years when the next drama teacher wants to do a reproduction of the first production, I want them to have something with some meat on its bones," Lazarus said.

The students are excited, too.

"I got to be in the last show on the old stage, and now I get to be in the first show on the new stage," said senior Emily Huebner, who plays Anne Sullivan and has performed in every play since her sophomore year.

She and freshman cast member Karli Cole, who plays Helen Keller, are excited to be in this production, they said.

Danny French, a senior who plays Anagnos, said, "It's a deep show. Deeper than anything we've done at a high school level." Anagnos is Anne's counselor at the Perkins Institution for the Blind, and the person that places her into the Keller's home for Helen.

With more than 30 students participating in the production, there was a lot of buzzing around the stage and hallways during dress rehearsal on Monday.

"I've been waiting months to see this scene," Lazarus said as he watched a fight between Anne Sullivan, this time played by Mandy Venable, and Helen Keller, played by Audrey Richardson, in an intense emotional and physical scene.

"This is the first time they've done this scene with real eggs and real water," Lazarus pointed out as Anne poured water over Helen's head. In the scene, Anne tries to get Helen to sit down at the dinner table and eat in a respectable way, but as the two exchange blows, Helen spits food out into Anne's face, and she retaliates by pouring water over her head.

"She hates eggs," Lazarus said, about Richardson as she performed on stage, eating eggs off the floor as the two grappled with each other, tossing chairs and dropping plates.

Lazarus is excited with the opportunity that similar scenes present to his students.

"It's a wonderful script, and it moves along at a pretty smooth pace," Lazarus said. "It gives the kids a good challenge."

Linganore High School presents "The Miracle Worker"

7 p.m. Friday and Saturday

2 p.m. Saturday and Sunday

The 7 p.m. show on Saturday will have an American Sign Language interpreter

Linganore High School, 5850 Eaglehead Drive, Ijamsville

Tickets are $5 and are available at the door