This week’s column was inspired by a writing assignment from a high school English teacher. It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of those, but this turned out to be fun.

Last year, A decided to join the stage crew for the school’s drama club production. I must say, our drama club does one heck of a job putting on a show. We’ve patronized many shows over the years. Some, like “Dracula,” were intriguing because of the subject matter. The Wonderful Husband is a die-hard “Dracula” fan, and both boys were intrigued by the “horror” aspect of the show.

Mary Poppins, well who doesn’t love Mary Poppins? That show even came with real, live flying! As the kids have risen in the ranks of various other clubs, teams, and the band, they’ve gotten to know many of the star performers, and they had just as must interest in seeing their friends on stage.

A loved his time in stage crew, but to my surprise, he announced he would be trying out for the fall production of “Les Misérables.” While I would never go so far as to consider myself a theater nerd, I’ve spent a fair amount of time seeing shows both on and off Broadway. “Les Misérables” was the very first Broadway quality production that I ever saw, when the touring company came to Philadelphia.

To say that the show changed my life isn’t hyperbole. When we came out of the production, my mother asked if I wanted a T-shirt or other souvenir. There was only one thing I wanted: The piano book.

Over the next few months, I played those songs over and over and over again. This was the music that finally made me feel something when I played it. I played from that book until it fell apart. To this day, the pages, creased, yellow and worn, are still right next to the piano, at the ready for when I need a few minutes of escape.

I saw the show several more times over the years, each time as enthralled by it as I had been the first time. So, when I first heard that the drama club would be putting it on, I thought, “Wow, that’s ambitious.” Hearing that A wanted to try out for a role was met with mixed emotions. On the one hand, it felt right that his debut would be in a show that had changed my own feelings about music and drama. On the other hand, up to this point in his life, he hadn’t sung a note that I knew of, and every part from the leads down to the beggars in the streets was nuanced and integral to the show.

So, we went through the maddening process of auditions. His piano teacher graciously offered to give him some instruction, so he wasn’t going in completely blind. I rehearsed my own speech about how important the stage crew was to the production and how, all things, considered, he was probably needed more behind the scenes than in front of them. I will spare you the agony of waiting and just tell you, he got a part. He got several parts, but the most important one (to me) and the most fitting one for him is the portrayal of one of the student revolutionaries.

We spent all summer listening to the soundtrack again and again, talking about all the tiny details. I fleshed out what happened around the songs that wasn’t included on the album. Pretty soon the entire family was humming or singing the words to all the songs. Valjean, Javert, Grantaire, Enjolras, Lesgles, and Joly became members of our family, talked about like they were people we hung out with every day.

While there were several practices over the summer, once school started, things got real. With A’s practice schedule, it made little sense to make two trips to the school: one to pick up G and then another to pick up A. So that conversation went like this: “G, you’re joining stage crew.” “Aw, I don’t want to, I’ll just sit and wait until A is done.” “Nope, you’re going to stay out of trouble and make yourself useful.” “No, I really don’t want to do it.” “Yep, you’re doing it,” and then he came home after the first day with a huge smile on his face and told me, “they have power tools!” He was sold.

So, it’s been a busy few months. I knew these shows were a lot of work, but I had absolutely no idea what all went on behind the scenes. I’ve been helping in the costume department. We all know sewing is not my thing, but a simple tack or a hem I can handle, especially when there are well over 100 costumes to be accounted for and every detail matters, from the hats on their heads, to the shoes on their feet, and every button in between. Part of my willingness to sew stems from my rampant desire to see this show already. Backstage, I get to hear snippets of the performance, and I am truly blown away by the talent these students have.

At any rate, the drama club adviser recently asked us to share a post about the show to encourage people to come see it. I’m not sure why I didn’t make the connection sooner, but when I stopped to think about what the drama club productions mean to me, I remembered that the WH and I had our second date at another drama club production. That night, we were going to see “Bye Bye Birdie,” and a former member of my swim team was making his directorial debut with the drama club. I had promised him weeks earlier I would come see the show, and I guess you could say that it was a little bit of a test for the future WH, to see if he could handle my commitment to my “kids,” even when it involved a high school play.

That night was the first night we talked about our future kids, and now it is just crazy to me that we’re going to be watching two of our kids perform, one on stage and one behind the scenes, as we sit in the audience with our third kid. When I say these performances can be life-changing, I speak from experience! I hope everyone can take an evening to enjoy our theater! Les Misérables, the school edition, performed by the Tamaqua Area Drama Club. Nov. 14, 6 p.m.; Nov. 15, 7 p.m., and Nov. 16, 2 p.m. Don’t miss it!

Liz Pinkey is a contributing writer to the Times News. Her column appears weekly in our Saturday feature section.