Music and dance will help tell the story of the most well known assassins in American history as the Penn State Thespians invite audiences to take a look into the motivations of murderers this weekend.

The student-run theater group will present four performances of Assassins at 8 tonight and Friday and 2 p.m. and 8 p.m. Saturday in Schwab Auditorium.

The musical, written by musical and film composer Stephen Sondheim, combines comedy, history and music, said director Megan Ringeling (junior-hotel, restaurant and institutional management).

"It's a funny show, but it's also very intense," she said. "You are laughing at people who tried to shoot the president. It's very dark."

The plot of the show tells the story of each presidential assassin or attempted assassin beginning with John Wilkes Booth.

Adam Sagot (junior-kinesiology), who plays Booth, said the motivation behind each of the assassinations is what fuels the value of the show.

"It makes you look into these characters. It's interesting to look at their individual motives," he said.

During the show, past assassins haunt the next person so that each one creates a legacy, moving through different time periods in history.

"Each action brings [the assassins] all back to memory with the public. They don't want to be forgotten," Sagot said.

Through the assassinations, all the characters are connected to each other and all of them have their own roles to play throughout history, he said.

"It was an interesting perspective," he said. "The topic might be morbid, but the message of the show comes out much brighter."

Alex Shields (junior-biology) plays Leon Czolgosz, who assassinated President William McKinley.

Shields said Czolgosz deliberates over whether or not to commit the murder, but reasons that the working class should hold more power than the president does.

"He's a rational person. Some of the assassins are irrational people, but he's just had a hard life and gets interested in anarchy," Shields said.

Alyssa Farrell (junior-theatre and public relations), who plays Lynette "Squeaky" Fromme, attempted assassin of Gerald Ford, said one of the most difficult things about the show for the actors is to take the characters and create a person the audience can sympathize with.

"It's a daunting task to make these characters likeable for the audience," she said.

"Everyone brings so much to their character," Farrell added.

Ringeling said the music in the show highlights the different time periods the characters portray and took a lot of effort from the cast.

Sagot said he was familiar with the show prior to auditioning, but performing the music has been a challenge.

"As a fan of the show I never imagined how difficult it was because the people on Broadway are so talented," he said.