Five high school students stuck in Saturday detention overcome their differences to fight the assistant principal and the stereotypes that surround them in the No Refund Theater rendition of The Breakfast Club.

Audience members get to meet Claire (the princess), Andrew (the athlete), Brian (the brain), Allison (the basket case), and John (the criminal). At the end of their nine hours together, the characters realize that they have more in common than they originally thought.

The Breakfast Club was never adapted to be a play, so director Alex Bowman had to watch the movie multiple times in order to transcribe all of the lines. The play still isn’t exactly like the movie, but Bowman and the cast were able to work together to make the story their own.

“I didn’t want [the cast] to do exactly what their characters did in the movie. I wanted them to interpret the characters as they pleased,” Bowman said. 

Bowman, who first saw The Breakfast Club at eight years old, shared how important it was for him to watch it again at a time in his life where the messages held true meaning.

“You don’t get the full meaning of The Breakfast Club until you’re of age and you went through high school,” Bowman said. “We can all identify with at least one of the characters on stage, if not all of them.”

NRT presents The Breakfast Club at 8 p.m. Thursday, September 6 through Saturday, September 8 in 111 Forum. You can find more info on the event’s Facebook page.