By JOSEPH B. NADEAU

WOONSOCKET — The students are on stage in their red and white costumes and down below them in the first row of the auditorium’s seating, Jennifer Maiello fires off a series of directions for the scene they about to rehearse.
It’s a song and dance number and the students will soon be scurrying about the stage from the left and right in a controlled form of chaos that the number requires.

On stage just three or four of the students hold any kind of previous training in music, dance or theater but that isn’t hindering the show they are putting on for the nearly empty auditorium.
It could be that this year’s selection for Maiello’s annual student production, “High School Musical,” is responsible for that, or it could be it’s just because Maiello and her students love what they are doing.
Maiello has put on eight previous successful musicals at the high school, shows ranging from “Oklahoma” to “West Side Story,” but thinks there is something special about Disney’s “High School Musical” for both her and the students.
“This is my life,” she admits during a break in her directing. “All the characters in it are the actors I have,” she said.
The popular musical, one being done everywhere this year it seems, focuses on two students at East High School who are not traditional theatre students.
Troy, a star on the basketball team, and Gabriella, an overly smart member of the school’s science team, want to break from their expected school personas and try something new, performing in the school play.
Along the way they have to convince their friends it is all right to make such a change and also overcome the opposition of the traditional school theatre stars, Sharpay and Ryan, to gain their roles.
The result is production that has plenty of catchy songs, fast moving dance routines, and even humor over the trials of trying to be different in an environment that typically holds people to their labels. The show will be performed May 8, 9 and 10 at the high school and will include performances for several groups of students in addition to evening shows for the public.
Maiello’s casting also mirrors the play in that her choice for Troy is Kevin Lamoureaux, a member of the Villa Novans wrestling, baseball and football teams. Marissa Silva, an honors student and member of the school’s Future Business Leaders of America group, has the role of Gabriella. Like Lamoureaux, Silva is a junior and a member of the school’s music department.
Lamoureaux said he had no idea how to dance before he joined Maiello’s troupe in January, but added the teacher took care of that with lots of practice time and pointed instruction.
He also had to learn how to sing.
 “She’s on me a lot and tells me to practice all the time,” Lamoureaux said. The leads also took voice lessons while gearing up for their roles and that has helped them in their renditions’ of  the production’s duets, he said.
The final test will come when the rehearsals conclude this week and the auditorium fills with a real audience for the first time.
 “I’m kind of nervous but I’m hoping I’ll do alright,” Lamoureaux said.
Silva has less to fear of opening night thanks to her participation in chorus over the years but is also counting on Maiello’s preparation work to make her appearance on stage a success.
 The rehearsals of the show have already shown Silva what to expect from a well-choreographed and directed production and only has her interested in more.
“This is a really big help for what I’m going to be doing in life,” she said. “When I go to college, I’m going to be majoring in musical theater,” Silva said.
The 44-member company also pits the high school’s more veteran performers such as Emily Luther, the lead in last year’s production of Thoroughly Modern Millie, against the newbies just as High School Musical does.
 Luther is paired with Will Scurry, a talented dancer and comic in the show, as the less than likeable East High School thespians who seek to bar Todd and Gabriella their chance before the footlights.
The daily work put in by the students on their production could already be seen in the rehearsal run through last week and Maiello will be sharpening their performances as the work continues this week before the opening. The production’s crew of 12 is also gearing up for the big night while finalizing the lighting patterns and set moves they must complete to keep the show moving in pace through each performance.
Maiello herself knows the hardest work of the production has already been done and the students will now begin to enjoy the fun of showing off what they’ve accomplished as the house fills for each coming show.
She has also used the stage techniques she learned while working a year with a traveling Broadway show after college to give the kids a little edge toward putting on a polished performance.
 “I do a lot of layering, a bunch of different things going on at the same time, so the audience’s eye is tricked a little bit,” she said. And she has also worked the kids hard on their dance routines so they will be where they are supposed to be as the numbers unfold.
That’s why she does what she does after all. “I’m always the person in the audience waiting for that tap dance scene to happen,” Maiello said of her love for the performing arts.
This year the high school cast will be performing shows exclusively for students at 10 a.m. on Thursday and Friday. All five of the city’s elementary schools will be sending their students to the daytime performance and the rest of the available tickets were taken by students from South Kingstown, Central Falls and the North Smithfield Elementary School. The evening performances beginning at 7 p.m. will be offered on Thursday and Friday for the public and there will also be two performances on Saturday, one matinee show and one at 7 p.m., the last of the production’s run.