Lessons learned. A community in shock. A season of healing.

In a way, "Godspell" is the perfect production to welcome pandemic-strained students back to the stage after a year away.

The Foley High School Theatre Department will present the 1971 Broadway hit tonight at the Foley Civic Center.

The story is a familiar one. Based on the Gospel according to St. Matthew, it details the last days of Jesus.

This re-telling, however, is modern, usually funny, often heart-wrenching and sometimes confusing.

Senior cast members Madelyn Repzynski and Blake Sawyer said they had never heard or seen the show until they were cast this spring.

They both said they have come to love the show despite the script being "somewhat crazy."

"It's everywhere," Sawyer said of the show whose music ranges from rock opera stylings to vaudeville.

The actors frequently break the so-called fourth wall to pull audience members on stage as part of the show. There are games, storytelling and dancing as the characters recall the parables of the Bible.

Each tale their characters tell leads to another and another until finally they reach the crux of the message.

"It's really all about a community that forms after a tragedy happens, and they stick together," Repzynski said.

The show's director, Foley High School teacher Logan Lane, agreed.

"It's really all about love and community and coming together," he said. "The message is really what we need to hear in the world now."