The Massachusetts Drama Festival begins tomorrow, March 2. Framingham High School Drama Company, a perennial finalist in the state competition, will hold a benefit performance of its 2013 entry tonight, March 1 at 7 at Framingham High.

The students are performing Dark of the Moon, a play Howard Richardson and William Berney which had a brief run on Broadway in 1945.

Set in the Appalachian Mountains, the play is a mythical tale of a witch boy, who becomes human after falling in love with a human girl named Barbara Allen. The play is based on a folk song - The Ballad of Barbara Allen.

At the start of the 40-minute show, a Conjur Woman agrees to turn the witch boy named John human for a year so he can court and marry Barbara Allen, but if she is unfaithful to him, he will convert back to a witch forever.

The play raises several moral issues, while telling the tale of star-crossed lovers.

Students Connor Fallon and Olivia Wiles have the lead roles of John and Barbara. There is a chemistry between them on stage.

In the end, a mob-mentality community, fueled by fear, encourages a crime against humanity, justified in the name of God.

(The ending, in my opinion would be inappropriate for an elementary school student, and without giving away too much may not be suitable for a non-teenager.)

Tonight's performance will support the drama company's entry into the Massachusetts Educational Theater Festival. Tickets are $10 each.

The preliminary round is scheduled for tomorrow, March 2 in Sharon. Framingham High is scheduled to perform at 10 a.m.

Tickets to tonight's benefit performance, which includes a talk back session are available online at www.showtix4u.com