Jeremiah Ion grew up acting in high school and college and writing scripts for video productions.

Now he's going to see things from a different perspective.

Ion's first play, “Party Games and Damnation,” will open this weekend at Butler County Community College's Succop Theater.

For Ion, a Karns City High School graduate and former BC3 student, it is the culmination of nearly a year of work and puts him in the director's seat.

“It's so weird to be so sure about it,” he said of the play's opening.

The play, a comedy, centers around two young couples who are struggling with problems in their relationships. The foursome end up at a dinner party together where they meet Puck, and chaos ensues as Puck tries to cause even more dissension among the couples.

“I've always liked the idea of a fantastic or crazy thing in the middle of (a play),” Ion said.

George Richardson of Butler plays Puck.

“It's going to be a very fun role,” he said. “I always enjoy oddball characters.”

Richardson, who did the initial read-through of the play, said Puck is a bit of Robin Williams with the Joker thrown in.

“It's going to be a very interesting show,” he said.

Ion, now a film student at Full Sail University in Winter Park, Florida, crafted the play while waiting on the paperwork for his master's degree in film studies from Full Sail.

In February, he pitched the idea to Michael Beck, event and technical theater specialist at BC3 and Larry Stock, theater director and co-adviser of the college's Pioneer Players.

Beck, who is a co-director for the play, said when Ion approached him about staging the production, there was no question.

The pair worked together extensively when Ion was a student at BC3, Beck said.

“He said, 'I want to do the show' and I said, done,” said Beck.

Nearly nine months of work followed with the pair making tweaks to the text and having read-throughs with some of the theater students at the college.

It was at one of the early read-throughs that Allison Torres, decided she wanted to play Faith.

“It was crazy and perfect at the same time,” she said. “I said, 'I need to play this character.'”

Stock said the show was very well-received by the Pioneer Players and has drawn a cast of seasoned, as well as new performers.

“It's quite a clever play,” Stock said. “It's nice to do an original work. We're enjoying working with it.”

Rebekkah Lindsay will be starring in her first play. She saw a flyer for the open auditions and decided to try out.

“I'm also very quirky and imaginative, so I very much appreciate this play,” she said. “I'm very honored to get the privilege to be in the play.”

Ion praised the cast, saying they've collected a “fantastic” group of people.

“This cast is the first time I looked at each of the actors and didn't feel I needed to compromise a character to fit the actor,” he said.

This is the 50th anniversary of the college, and Stock said it seems fitting to stage an original work from a former student.

The show will be performed “black box” style in which the audience sits on stage with the performers.

It creates a more intimate production and helps the audience feel more connected to the action on stage, according to Stock.

“It's an interesting theater performance,” Stock said.

<B>WHAT: </B>“Party Games and Damnation” directed by Michael Beck and Jeremiah Ion. Written by Jeremiah Ion<B>WHEN: </B>7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday<B>WHERE: </B>Succop Theater, Butler County Community CollegeTickets are $8 for adults and $5 for students and can be ordered by calling 724-284-8505, online at BC3.edu/theater or at the door.