Those are the West Seattle High School students who, this weekend and three nights next week, are telling a musical version of the tale of “Bonnie and Clyde,” which almost a century after their deaths, remains one of America’s most infamous crime stories. As mentioned in this morning’s “West Seattle Saturday“ preview, there’s a special benefit event tonight, raising money for the WSHS drama program, with a pre-performance reception at 6 and the show at 7:30 pm. We visited the WSHS Theater last night to talk with the cast and crew during their pre-show rehearsal.

Given that Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s crime spree was in the 1930s, ending when law enforcers killed them in 1934, we asked the students how they’d heard of Bonnie and Clyde before this. One said her family went to Louisiana last summer and she noticed the historical markers there. Another said he first heard of them when Sarah Hyland, who played Clyde’s sister-in-law Blanche Barrow in the Bonnie & Clyde mini-series, turned up on “Project Runway.” Others had seen the 1967 movie with Faye Dunaway and Warren Beatty, as well as their memorable Academy Awards appearance earlier this year. But back to the show:

They were rehearsing the Joplin, Missouri, hideout scene when we visited – the “smoke” coming from the car above is from a fog machine.

The show is a co-presentation of the WSHS Drama Club and Music Department – the score is described as “non-traditional, combining blues, gospel, and rockabilly music.” If you can’t get to tonight’s special benefit, “Bonnie & Clyde” plays next week too, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, 7:30 nightly at the WSHS Theater, 3000 California SW, ticket info here. (See the cast list here.)