With the dust bowl days of the 1930’s as a backdrop – area students will take the stage Thursday at the Salina Community Theatre for the musical “Bonnie and Clyde.”

The story traces the relationship between Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow as they move from small town thieves to American folk heroes during the Great Depression.

“The banking system was the villain at that point in time to people, because they were evicting people from their homes. There were no jobs and people were so frustrated,” said Shannon Garretson, Education Director at SCT.

“So they saw them as Robin Hood types of figures.”

Garretson joined in on the KSAL Morning News with a look at the production the students have been rehearsing since May and added they answered her challenge to research the 1930’s.

“These kids have consistently brought in facts, daily almost of different things they have heard from older relatives about the time period, or that they have researched on the internet,” she said.

Garretson added that Robert Stillwell of Salina offered some of his research to the students too, revealing that the car they died in had a Kansas connection. Bonnie and Clyde stole the 1934 Ford sedan from Jesse and Ruth Warren of Topeka.

The musical Bonnie and Clyde plays on Stage II with four performances from July 28th through July 31st.