South Lakes High School's theater program will stage "Come From Away" Nov. 18–21. The program says it is the first D.C.-area school to produce the musical about 9/11.

The show tells the true story of 7,000 airline passengers stranded in Gander, Newfoundland, after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The production lands in the 25th anniversary year of those events.

Michael Viola, the program's theater director and teacher, said he secured the rights after seeing a high school pilot production at the Virginia Thespian Festival in January. "When the rights became available a month later, I saw it as a sign," Viola told The Reston Letter in an Oct. 7 article by Chuck Cascio, an author and former South Lakes teacher. "I felt confident that my students would excel both in their performances on stage and in their technical work behind the scenes."

The production marks the students' first experience with documentary-style theater, in which they portray real people using dialogue that was actually spoken. Viola said he spent the first month of school preparing the cast and crew for the material's weight. He brought in guest speakers, assigned research projects, showed documentaries and had students read other works about the attacks.

South Lakes' theater department has built a strong track record under Viola's leadership. The program is the first school in the D.C. metropolitan area to win Critics and Awards Program (Cappies) honors for Best Musical, Best Critic Team and Best Play in a four-year span, according to The Reston Letter. The most recent of those wins, Best Play for "A Monster Calls," came at the Cappies gala on June 7 at Constitution Hall in Washington.

Lead actor Liam Birch, the core ensemble, students Taylor Clawson, Emilie Fiske and Isabelle Phillipe, and returning critic Alden Walcott also took home awards that night. The haul gave South Lakes five Cappies wins for the season.

Performances run at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 18, through Saturday, Nov. 21, with a 2 p.m. Saturday matinee. Tickets cost $10 for students and $15 for adults and are available at slakestheatre.com or at the door. First responders get free admission on opening night.

Upcoming

  • "Come From Away" — South Lakes High School, 11400 South Lakes Drive. Nov. 18–21. slakestheatre.com.