EDWARDSBURG — Sheathing their swords, a group of cloaked men jumped from a set of tall crates onto the stage of the Edwardsburg Performing Arts Center Monday evening, prepared to tell a story of love and adventure that will open to the public this weekend.

Edwardsburg Public Schools is hosting a production of “The Three Musketeers” at the performing arts center. Showtimes are 7 p.m. Friday and Saturday, and 2 p.m. Sunday. Tickets are $9 for adults and $7 for students and seniors. Tickets will be available at the door or can be purchased online at Edwardsburg.ticketleap.com/threemusketeers.

Adapted by James DeVita from Alexandre Dumas’ 1844 novel, Director Catherine Wood said the play would be a post-modern look at the classic tale. The play follows the character of D’Artagnan on a quest to seek fortune and become one of the king’s Royal Musketeers. Along the way, he finds adventure, love and friendship.

“This is the classic story of ‘The Three Musketeers’ and between good vs. evil,” Wood said during Monday night’s rehearsal. “There’s adventure. There’s fighting. There’s romance. There are going to be points that I think will shock the audience a bit — they are going to be on the edge of their seats — but there is also comedy in it.”

At nearly three hours long, “The Three Musketeers” is one of the longest and most challenging plays the Edwardsburg program has ever done. In addition to the sheer length and number of lines in the play, as a more classic production, the language used proved to be an obstacle as well.

“I chose this one because we wanted to do something classical. Over the past several years, we have done a lot of comedies and some more dramas, but we wanted to do something more classical because these students haven’t done a classical show before,” she said. “[‘The Three Musketeers’] gave us an opportunity to do that, but with it being more classical, the language is much more difficult, and it is much more lengthy. It has been a challenge because we have to maintain the dignity of the show, while also keeping it in a time frame the audience can enjoy.”

Despite the difficulty level of the play, Wood said the student actors rose to the challenge and have worked near countless hours over the last few months to put on an entertaining and engaging show.

“Especially if you look at our leads, they become these characters,” she said. “They’ve put a ton of work into developing their characters so that when they come out on stage, the idea is that we are not seeing them as teenagers. We are seeing them as their characters.”

Just a handful of the many students who spent Monday evening’s rehearsal putting the final touches on their performances were Tommy Oppman, who plays D’Artagnan, the show’s hero, and Kynin McLeish, Tyler Dahms and Brandon Maynard, who play the titular three Musketeers.

“The amount of scenes and lines are really hard to memorize and get going,” McLeish said, adjusting a long, golden sword at his waist. “But once you get there, it is really, really enjoyable.”

While all four of the actors said they are feeling the pressure going into opening night, they are excited to put their hard work on the stage and see the community’s reactions.

“There are going to be some scenes that I think will make the audience gasp,” Oppman said. “I can’t wait to see that.”

Likewise, Wood said she would encourage the public to attend the weekend’s performances to not only support the students starring in it but to see a high-quality production.

“I think the audience will laugh,” Wood said. “I think there will be times they will be excited over the interaction between the kids, the sword fighting, the combat. I don’t want to give anything away, but there are some really super cool fight scenes that I think will blow the audience away.”