When curtains open to a simple set of white-washed milk crates, furniture legs and other miscellaneous wood scraps towering over the stage as two makeshift walls, “Road Show” will have ample opportunity to be much grander than it’s simplistic stage.

The theatre department’s upcoming musical is an episodic narrative that follows two brothers throughout the early and mid-1900s as they strive for the American dream. The brothers, Addison and Wilson Mizner, are based on real-life brothers who conned their way through the country in search of success.

Senior Connor Relyea, who plays Addison, describes his character as a very gullible and corruptible social climber who is unbelievably influenced by his brother.

The show catalogs the ever-strained relationship between the two brothers and another man, Hollis, who ends up being Addison’s lover.

Senior Olivia Boyer is the show’s stage manager.

“The amount of power that those three people bring in in general, I think, is my favorite part of the show,” she said.

Wilson, played by senior Zack Heuls, is very much the opposite of Addison — a smooth talking con artist. Everyone’s an instrument to him, and he is a versatile musician.

Miller said the brothers need each other, yet they are poison for each other.

“This is a story about Addison finding himself,” Relyea said. “And I think a lot of people can relate to that, especially now in college.”

“Road Show” will premiere Oct. 8 at the Rhynsburger Theatre. Professor of theatre James Miller, director of the musical, said he is incredibly excited for the show to open.

“I do shows to make people feel and think,” he said.

Miller, who is also an award-winning costume designer, brings design as well as direction to the musical.

“I draw well enough to make the costumes look like the people who are going to be wearing them,” he said.

This gives actors the chance to visualize the way their character appears from the very first rehearsal, a luxury actors don’t often get.

“(The audience is) going to have an experience unlike any musical they’ve ever seen,” Miller said. “It’s written kind of like a movie.”