LAKEHURST – The Ocean County Vocational Technical School (OCVTS) formally opens its black box theater in Hangar One on the NAVAIR Base on June 13 at 3:00 p.m.

The ceremony will include a performance by students of the school’s Performing Arts Academy. An original play, Zeitflamme, meaning “time flame” in German, will be performed. It was created, directed and produced by the students, and is funded by a grant provided by the Artists-in-Education Consortium. The program is carried out through a partnership between the New Jersey State Council on the Arts, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts, and a consortium which includes Arts Horizons, the Institute for Arts and Humanities and Young Audiences of New Jersey.

Through the residency program, students learn first hand from professional artists. Writer Debra Scott, of Pennsylvania, has worked with OCVTS students to create the show. The play which moves between two time periods at one location, explores themes of prejudice, intolerance and war during the Nazi era and in contemporary times.