Earlier this year, Columbia High School drama director Janet Wood gave her students several plays to check out as a possible selection for the school's fall play. One stood out - "The Right Now," written by Andrew Geha.

"We really clicked with this one," said senior Carly VanBuren, who portrays Saicha in the play. "That was the first time I ever read this play, and I was like, 'Ooh! I like this.' I like the storyline, and also, I really love romance."

"The Right Now" will be performed at 7 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 17, and at 2 and 7 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 18, at Columbia High School, 901 Ironville Pike.

The show features a cast of 19 and centers around a group of high school students.

"It's a love story, but I'm an angsty teen," explained Nyck Price, a senior who plays Asher. "I'm a troublemaker in school, and I have a girlfriend named Saicha, and I'm obsessed with her. I created a problem, and I stayed in that problem for a really long time, and that's what the show is about."

Alexymahr Whitley, a junior who plays Lt. Kinnerman, said the show features both serious and humorous parts, and it has a sci-fi twist. "We can't give too much away, but I will say that time is very weird in this play," he shared.

Nyck agreed, adding, "Think 'Back to the Future.'"

Carly noted that the characters run the gamut of emotions in the play. "In the beginning, it's mostly about romance, and as the play goes on, it gets chaotic, tense and serious," she said. "The overall ending, though, is happy."

The students said they have enjoyed getting to portray people their own age on stage, and they feel the writing reflects a teen's reality.

"Most scenes, we're just being ourselves on stage as high school students," Nyck remarked. "We're taking us and who we are and just throwing it onto the stage."

Like real life, what the teens go through in the play has its ups and downs, said Alexymahr. "Teens are a conglomerate of emotions, so you'll see characters flip-flop in how they feel about a situation," he said. "It can get confusing, but in a good way."

Carly cautions that audiences should be prepared to see a show that's perhaps different from what they are used to.

"If people want to go on a rollercoaster of emotions, definitely come see this," she commented. "It will be confusing at first, but then they'll leave, and they'll be like, 'Wow! What did I just watch? That was amazing.'"