The members of the King’s Fork High School theater group, the Dogpound Players, are close.

They are so close they plan sleepovers together in the school’s auditorium.

They are so close they have plans to do theater in the park performances together this summer.

And they are so close they are family – or “DraFramily,” as they call themselves.

And last night, the DraFamily (short for drama family) had their opening night for “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.”

The play is a romantic comedy that follows a group of four lovers and a group of actors that encounter both Athenian nobility and fairies who live in a forest. William Shakespeare wrote the play in the late 1500s.

“I have got a great group of kids,” said Jennifer Miguel, the school’s theater teacher and show’s director. “They all work incredibly hard, no matter what I ask them to do. This is the first Shakespeare play they’ve ever done. We do a lot of tough shows, but I’ve never been disappointed.”

While the words and language have remained the same, the Dogpound Players’ adaptation of the Shakespearean classic takes on a few artistic changes. For example, the play is now set in the 1960s, which means the music, clothes and psychedelic approach to the set is probably not what the Bard had in mind when he originally wrote the play.

But the changes, the students say, help enhance the story.

“When you get down to it, it’s not about the language, it’s about the characters,” said Kore Foster, the president of the players. “Problems don’t change just because the times do. The basis of the play of love and lovers being misled still lives on.”

And since the 1960s were a time of peace, joy and love, it “fits the show right on,” Foster said.

This is the group’s first appearance on the stage since it competed in this year’s VHSL District Theater Festival. The school took home third place, its highest placement in three years.

Getting back on stage this weekend for the rest of the show’s three performances has the cast anxious, but excited.

“It really is nerve-wracking,” said Kayla Randall, a senior in the cast. “But there is no adrenaline rush like being on stage.”

The group will perform Friday at 8:45 p.m. and Saturday at 2 p.m. and 8 p.m.