MANCHESTER — Burr and Burton Performing Arts takes the stage Wednesday through Saturday nights to tackle the challenging issues – particularly in this moment – of honor, devotion to duty and individual moral compass in Aaron Sorkin’s play “A Few Good Men.”

“I chose it because I like the story,” said Jim Raposa, the BBA director of Drama/Dance/Tech Theater, shortly before the students prepared for their afternoon dress rehearsal Monday. He said the play also prompted the students to ask questions of themselves. “If we know an order is morally wrong, should we follow it? That is at the crux of what we still talk about now. What was once acceptable is now no longer acceptable.”

And while the play takes place in a courtroom, circling around military issues, Raposa said the message for kids touches closer to their own day-to-day lives.

“We had conversations about following an order and you as a young person being asked to do something you know is wrong … how do you fight peer pressure to do what’s right,” he said.

The play will be held at the Riley Center for the Arts on Nov. 8 through the 11 at 6:30 p.m.

Sorkin’s 1989 play inspired the award-winning movie in 1992 that tells the story of military lawyers who discover a conspiracy while defending two United States Marines accused of murder at Guantanamo Bay.

Brazen lawyer D.A. Kaffee, played by Tom Cruise in the film, who has more experience with plea bargains than courtroom battles, is assigned to defend them. A member of the defense team – played by Demi Moore – believes there are extenuating circumstances and challenges Kaffee to confront the merciless Commanding Officer at Guantanamo Bay – Jack Nicholson was nominated for Best Supporting Actor – and in doing so puts the military mentality and Marine Code of Honor on trial.

The film is perhaps best known for Nicholson’s courtroom snarl, “You can’t handle the truth.”

BBA’s fine cast includes Addyson Conklin, Asher Cooperman, Julian Cullinane, Sadie Eggers, Rowan Faltskog, Sienna Halstead, Molly Harper, Nora Heffernan-Smith, Lily Hutcheson, Hayley Jarvis, Ben Kirkpatrick, Klara Lendic, Graham Long, Joey Masalsky, Evan Miksis, Philip Nichols, Ryder Ouellette, Julian Pirie, Ginger Ragaishis, Eoghan Sailer, Tiana Sigel, Fay Stalcup, Sydne Sterling, Nora Ward.

Asked if the students felt pressure given the caliber of the film, Raposa said he told them, “You’re not going to watch the movie … or you’re going to want to watch the movie. Look at it and then forget it. No one in my opinion is doing an impersonation of those actors. You’ve got to find something that’s your own. You’re going to discover your own character.”

He said two Marines from the Rutland recruiting station came to meet with the students.

“This was not a recruiting pitch, but it was just giving some general information,” Raposa said. He said the students learned about military decorum, what boot camp was like, and how they should appear on stage to convey they had been through that experience. For example, he said one Marine mentioned that on base you move quickly and with purpose, while in civilian life people move more slowly.

Raposa said students were asked which characters they would like to play. Auditions that lasted five hours over two days sorted out who performed well with whom, which students were stronger in particular roles, and a final roster was chosen.

Some of the students are also performing in “The Sound of Music” in December at Bennington’s Monument & Cultural Center.

Tickets for “A Few Good Men” are on sale and are $10 for Burr and Burton students, faculty, staff, and children under 18, and $15 for the general public.

Reserve your tickets online at bbatickets.com. The box office opens one hour before showtime.