Julio Matos (graduate-directing) will bring five musical theatre majors to the Pavilion stage when he directs Out of Line, an original musical revue, this weekend.

The show tells the story of the chorus and ensemble members who can be found in any and almost every Broadway production.

The revue is Matos' spring semester directing project for the Master of Fine Arts (MFA) directing program.

Matos said the show focuses on how the chorus members can sometimes slip under the radar with other big-name stars in shows.

These chorus members work just as hard, and sometimes even harder than the leading characters, but they don't always receive the same accolades, he said.

Matos said he and friend Timothy Albrecht conceived the idea of the show more than a year ago.

Matos said they were discussing how the real stories take place backstage and how the members of the chorus can eventually reach a fork in the road at which they face hard choices.

"These chorus members eventually reach the point where [they] would further [their careers] or end it," he said.

If the performer chooses to leave, he or she steps out of the chorus line, and Matos said this is where the idea of the show's title originated.

The idea of choice is repeated throughout the performance, articulated through the monologues presented by the five main performers.

The five students are musical theatre majors and played a large role in the development of the performance's script, Matos said.

Kendall Thornburgh (junior-musical theatre) said the cast members were given a list of phone numbers and e-mail addresses from Matos.

The people listed were past friends and colleagues of Matos who he had met throughout his life and his time on the Broadway stage.

Every cast member e-mailed or called about 10 people, compiling information from more than 25 Broadway actors and actresses. Matos and the cast members then used their research to put together the monologues.

"The monologues show how different the performing lifestyle is," Thornburgh said. "They mainly focus on the 'gypsies,' who were often overlooked."

The gypsies represent the chorus members who demonstrate dedication, professionalism and experience but are often not recognized for these traits, cast member Tyler Rutt (sophomore-musical theatre) said.

The show is less than an hour long and features songs from Broadway shows of which the interviewed actors and actresses were once parts.

The production of Out of Line will also features two original songs written by Penn State theatre professor John Franceschina.

Besides the music, Rutt said a large part of the show focuses on the different choices these performers make and the idea that these choices are universal in that almost everyone has to experience these types of dilemma.

"The show explains how the performing lifestyle can force decisions in your career and in your personal life," he said.

Matos said the show not only sheds light on the real life of a chorus member by looking into the lives of the performers the cast interviewed, but it also lets audience members understand that Broadway performers are just as human as anyone else and have to deal with similar struggles.

"It's looking back into the lives of people in the height of their profession, who are choosing between career and family, and we're showing the audience that [Broadway performers] are the same," he said.