Bryan Weinsheimer has lived through a lot for an 8-year-old. His resumé of challenges extends beyond typical milestones like learning to read and ride a bike to include three surgeries, four months of chemotherapy and six weeks of radiation.

Weinsheimer was diagnosed with cancer in August 2007 and became the School of Theatre's Four Diamonds child for the Interfraternity Council/Panhell-enic Dance Marathon that October.

Aside from canning trips, the School of Theatre Thon organization holds annual productions to fundraise for the Weinsheimer family. This year's production, Disney's "High School Musical," will be performed tonight and tomorrow night in 102 Forum Building, with an additional show on Thursday.

Co-producer of "High School Musical" and Thon chair for the School of Theatre Laura Matey (junior-theatre) danced on Weinsheimer's behalf during Thon 2009.

"Bryan is always in the highest of spirits -- he's always willing to have a good time, and he's so full of life," she said. "He's a funny kid, into cop movies and all kinds of humor."

Production public relations manager Erin Wise (junior-political science) said having a Four Diamonds family ensures a personal connection between the students and the child they support. The School of Theatre Thon organization hopes to raise at least $1,000 to help the Weinsheimer family over the next three days, Wise said.

To remind the audience of the production's purpose, a Thon-related slideshow will be played at the start of each performance, and the choreography to the finale of "High School Musical," called "We're All in This Together," will include the 2009 line dance, choreographer Alison Morooney (sophomore-musical theatre) said.

The production started out with no budget, no adviser and no place to hold rehearsals -- the Arts Building used in previous years is currently under construction. The 30-member cast, crew and production team have spent three to four hours a night for the past month rehearsing.

"I'm not worried," musical director Ford DeCastro (sophomore-engineering) said of opening night. "I'm happy not only benefiting Thon but working with some excellent, talented people."

In addition to learning the scripts, songs and dances, the students put together their own costumes, props, sets and advertisements for the production.

"Rehearsals are pretty long and are late at night, but they're painless," Blake Stadnik (freshman-musical theatre) said.

Stadnik, who plays Troy in the musical, said the cast was recently shown the Thon video during rehearsal.

"That's when everything came full circle for me," he said. "That's when I realized that this is something so much bigger and so much more important than just a show."