DeKalb | Students can witness the downward spiral of German solider Woyzeck as he struggles with his jealousy and rage.

This dark play opens today and will have performances this weekend at Huntley Middle School, 1515 S. Fourth St.

“Woyzeck” shows the story of an ex-solider and his relationship with his wife, Marie, and his mental health. Woyzeck is the subject of an experiment by a local professor and has nothing to eat but peas; throughout the play his mental health is put to the test.

Sophomore acting major Jaeyln Hawkins was interested in the play because its writer died before he could finish it, and no one knows how it was supposed to end.

“I had my heart set on [it] because I knew Alex [Gelman, the director,] would do something creative and interesting with it,” Hawkins said.

Gelman said the unexpected things that happen during production when everything comes together is his favorite part of directing.

“There’s an old wisdom: Don’t go anywhere unless it scares you,” Gelman said. “So that was the hope and the journey, trying to touch and explore things that we try to avoid a lot of the time. We do a lot of planning on our own and together, and these amazing things happen that we didn’t expect.”

Junior acting major Nick Bryant, who plays the drum major, said he enjoyed how everyone who watches the play can have different viewpoints about Woyzeck.

“The whole concept of the play [is] how there are so many views on it,” Bryant said. “[There are] so many different views about it, so many different ways you can see the play. You can see it in Woyzeck’s head, almost … .”