For the director and many of the actors in the student-run acting troupe No Refund Theatre (NRT), this week's performance, Woody Allen's Don't Drink the Water, is a welcome blast from the past.

"I fell in love with Don't Drink the Water when I first read it in high school," said director Katie Bucaro (junior-communication sciences and disorders). "I thought it was a witty comedy, and I could see myself directing it."

The performance will take place at 9 p.m. Thursday and 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday in 111 Forum.

Leading actors Ariela Rossberg, Jesse Cramer and Emily Whittet all share a familiarity and admiration for the play from their high school years.

"I was in this play in high school, playing the same role of the daughter as I am now," said Whittet (sophomore-advertising and international studies), who will be playing Susan Hollander. "It's cool to do it in the whole different college setting."

Don't Drink the Water takes place in a unnamed communist country in the '60s, with much of the production set in the U.S. Embassy of that country, Bucaro said.

The father of a family of tourists from New Jersey -- Walter Hollander, played by Vinny DelPrince (junior-mathematics) -- obliviously attempts to take photos of a missile site, drawing attention from the police who believe the family is a group of spies. The family flees to the U.S. Embassy, where the rest of the story takes place, Bucaro said.

The play is rife with sarcastic humor, even in the beginning scenes when the setting is introduced to the audience. The family is composed of cliché tourists from New Jersey, wearing big sunglasses and using stereotypical accents.

Not only did Woody Allen write the play, but he also directed the film version of the story in 1969, though NRT's director didn't want it to influence her production.

"I didn't see the movie. I wanted to use my own creativity and imagination," Bucaro said.

Bucaro started thinking about how she would direct the play during Christmas break and by the second or third week of the semester, she picked the cast.

Bucaro said the cast has had two more weeks to practice this play than NRT casts usually do.

"It's one of the setbacks of NRT -- that you don't have enough time to practice," Whittet said. "So that made this performance a lot less stressful."

The fact that most of the plot takes place in the U.S. Embassy with many of the same characters seemed to give a lot of freedom for a lot of character development.

"The mother character struck me as this zany woman," said Rossberg (sophomore-theatre), who plays Marion Hollander, the mother. "She's a funny woman. I pictured her as the mom from The Nanny and my aunt melded together into one."

Though Cramer is familiar with the play and has plenty of NRT experience, this role brings him a new task -- his first lead acting role.

"This will be my 14th NRT show," Cramer (sophomore-English) said. "It's just a ridiculous comedy."