At this year’s Massachusetts High School Drama Guild Festival the students in Kate Murray’s Theatre II class presented a new work, the brainchild of a creative collaboration between teacher and students. And this weekend, they are bringing it home, with several productions for the Vineyard audiences slated at the high school’s performing arts center.

Ms. Murray explains, “Closets is an original, one-act play that explores the human condition and what we as beings ‘hide’ in our proverbial ‘closets.’” Specifically, Closets centers around the dysfunction of a family, brought together and pushed apart simultaneously by the Thanksgiving holiday. “Now, while no one’s family is quite as complex as the family depicted in Closets, we are certain that our audience will identify with some aspect of the play,” she said.

While the play did not earn the troupe a place in the drama guild competition finals, the players should be recognized for their audacity: Closets was one of only 20 original plays out of the roughly 112 works performed in the competition, the preliminary rounds of which were held in Swansea at the end of February.

Despite not making it into the state festival finals as they have in years past, the young troupe’s dedication to their craft and willingness to take risks has been recognized by a somewhat higher authority: The American High School Theatre Festival selected the regional high school to represent the nation in the August 2010 Fringe Festival, a three-week event held in Edinburgh, Scotland that, by popular reckoning, is the largest arts festival in the world.

The troupe was nominated and awarded the opportunity to head across the pond and perform alongside the rest of the world last year, and since then, faculty, parents and students have been earnestly organizing fund-raising opportunities to help finance the trip. The proceeds from this weekend’s performances will benefit the troupe’s travel fund. Though admission is free to all shows, donations are more than welcome.

Both performances are in the high school’s performing arts center; with the first one tonight, Friday, March 26, at 7 p.m. On Saturday, March 27, Closets will be performed at 5:30 p.m., followed by an additional treat: a student-directed play. Originally scheduled for last spring, the students had an opportunity to sit in the director’s chair and learn firsthand what goes on behind the scenes to make a production happen. Conflicts forced the cancellation of these performances last spring, so Saturday’s show will be the directorial debut for the very capable Theatre II class.

For details on the performances, call 914-830-9288.