The theater department at Jesse Carson High School performed their final dress rehearsal Wednesday for their first production of the school year.

The play is an adaptation of the Lois Lowry book “The Giver,” which is on the required reading list for many middle school students.

The hour-long production will be performed for 1,500 Rowan-Salisbury middle school students in a total of three performances Thursday and Friday during school hours.

Three public shows also will be performed Friday and Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.

The play tells the story of a society that has removed dangerous thoughts, actions and motivations to create a gray, perfect world called “Sameness.” A couple of the main characters in the production are Jonas, played by Dillon Stevens, who has been selected to inherit the position “Receiver of Memory” and the Giver, played by Anthony Cataldo, who is outgoing Receiver.

The Receiver is the person who stores all memories of the time before Sameness. Once given the truth, Steven’s character is faced with the decision to follow along with the community and be safe or escape and pursue knowledge and life.

The cast consists of 45 students (all from Carson except one East Rowan student and one West Rowan student) and 13 in technical support.