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Steamboat Springs — It's safe to say that Perry-Mansfield Performing Arts School and Camp's production of "Machinal" will be unlike anything you will find on TV, at the rodeo or anywhere else in Steamboat Springs this weekend.

"It's like a living nightmare," said Director of Theatre Victor Maog, who said the expressionistic 1928 play by Sophie Treadwell synchronizes language, movement, music and sound with a harrowing storyline. "It is very, very, very much a fusion experience. : I think that's why it's become a landmark play in a time when plays are supposed to be real with four walls."

"Machinal" is the story of a woman named Helen Jones, who suffers in the dull and woman-suppressing machine of society until she meets and has a brief, passionate affair with Dick Roe. She murders her husband, and afterward, she is convicted and ultimately put to death by a literal machine: the electric chair.

"She has that heartbeat that wants to break free," director Alex Correia said. "But the more she struggles and struggles, the tighter and tighter it gets. : She escapes one awful situation to find herself in an even worse situation."

Correia said the world economic crisis provided him with an immediate connection to the play that anyone with a 401(k) can relate to. Like the play's main character, he said he felt frustration and anger about "somebody else's choices controlling our lives."

Virginia Veale, a student at The Juilliard School in New York, stars as Jones. Correia said the expressionistic drama provided a substantial challenge for Perry-Mansfield students, who were given just three weeks to pull it off.

"I love it because of the stylistic challenge for the kids," Correia said. "There's a lot of weird acting stuff going on."

Correia said he took the idea of seeing the entire story through Jones' eyes to heart, which has a profound influence on the set, the design and the sometimes-grotesque costumes.

"We want to give (students) the sort of literary and artistic challenge that would test their capacity to handle heavyweight material," Maog said. "On a very simple basis, (the audience is) going to see some of the most amazing young talent I've actually ever seen tackle one of their toughest works. That's a cage match in itself."

For more information about the play or to buy tickets for this weekend's performances, call 879-7125, or go to www.perry-mansfield.org.