"Come on, give me some more hips," said director Pat Davis, watching the rehearsal from a stool in front of the Heritage School stage.

Freedom, 15, from Alaska, is part of the 46-member student cast rehearsing the annual musical performed at Heritage, a nonprofit residential treatment center for at-risk teens.

The show offers students a chance to learn new skills, as well as a distraction from everyday routines. It's part of the Heritage School's ongoing performing arts programs, developed over the past 10 years as a form of therapy and treatment for troubled students.

"It's really an accomplishment," said Carly, 15, from California, who plays one of the play's narrators. "A lot of us are trying to work through our problems now and we have some things going on that people could not even imagine going through."

The program was launched after a teacher's successful in-class presentation of a classic Greek tragedy, which evolved into a stage production. After that first play a decade ago, students started to work together and manage their time better. "It did amazing things for the kids," said Karen Tapahe, the school's development coordinator." "They liked being someone else on stage and get rid of all those problems in their lives. It just helped them grow up."

The results convinced the school to commit to mounting a production annually, and then asked Davis, the just-retired executive director of Salt Lake City's Grand Theatre, to direct the show.

At 72, Davis' schedule is still busy. She spends summers in Nauvoo, Ill., where she directs productions as a missionary for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Davis said no to Heritage at first, but agreed to meet the students. "Needless to say, I stayed more than a year," she said during rehearsals for her ninth Heritage production, a revival of "Joseph." "If I did one, I decided it would have to be one that would teach us all something and 'Joseph' does that."

Unlike previous years, when musicals were staged outside or in the school's gym, the cast will be performing in a new $4.5 million performing arts facility, completed this summer. Lynnette C. Loveland and her children contributed to the facility on behalf of her husband and their father, the late James B. Loveland, a former member of the school's governing board.

In addition to the new stage and auditorium, this year students are benefiting from the craft of professionals, who have designed sets and costumes. The school uses money from its general funds to cover the annual $50,000 to $60,000 budget for the drama, hopes to receive donations to pay its costs.

From the very first rehearsal, Davis has told student actors that she doesn't care what kind of chemical dependency they might have. She's confident that they will never feel as high as they do when they're on stage receiving a standing ovation from an audience.

She believes the program is working, because every year student actors ask if she will extend the show's run of performances.

One student, Andrew, 16, from California credited playing the part of Joseph in the musical for helping him gain life skills, such as supporting and trusting others. "It makes you grow, personality-wise," he said, as he stepped into a dressing room to try on his character's colorful Dreamcoat. "It gives you a lot of courage and makes you feel a little bit stronger," Andrew said. "It's cool to make us reach for that."