The ISU Theatre will perform “Treasure Island”, a well-known adventure stage play based on the novel by Robert Louis Stevenson, this Friday through Sunday at Fisher Theater. 

Set in 1700, “Treasure Island” follows the story of 14-year-old Jim Hawkins on an adventure with pirates after he finds a treasure map. During the adventure, Hawkins evolves from a young boy to a man.

The basic story is similar to the novel, but there are also some changes that make the story more interesting and exciting. This new adaption for “Treasure Island” adds more female characters than the original version.

 “[Treasure Island] gives women a bigger role than they have in the original. In the original Treasure Island, there was only one female character, [which was] Jim Hawkins mother,” director Jane Cox said. 

According to Cox, there will be women pirates in this adaption. Also, in the original novel, there is not much about Jim’s father, but his father plays a bigger role in this play.

 “At the beginning of the play, I see Jim Hawkins as very naïve and very blind to what the world is like,” Adam Kroksh, who plays Jim Hawkins, said. “Throughout the play, he becomes much more aware of what people are like and how the world really works.”

“Fourteen is a very wired age, because you are not so much a child and you start to grow up to real life and think [more],” Kroksh said. “I kind of related to that when I was in middle school because you go through these transitions.”

For “Treasure Island” a fight choreographer was invited to the rehearsal to teach students how to deal with stage property and weapons and how to make it safe, so no one gets hurt.

“There is a lot of danger all the time,” Cox said.

By the end of the play, Hawkins grows up and learns how life is challenging and how important it is to keep chasing one’s dreams.

“Treasure Island” will perform at 7:30 p.m. Oct.  9 and 10. The play will also perform at 2 p.m. Oct. 11 at Fisher Theater.

Tickets are available from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday at the Iowa State Center Ticket Office and also via Ticketmaster. Tickets are also available at the door prior to performances.

For more information on Treasure Island and for ticket prices, visit the website for ISU theatre.