Members of TUTS' Humphrey School of Musical Theatre — some of Houston's most promising high school theater students — have performed works by Disney and The Who for the public. But for their 2011 production, they picked a new show with teenage appeal and Houston ties.

VOTE!: The Musical is about the most important of frivolous things — a high school election — and was co-written by two Rice University alums, Ryann Ferguson and Steven Jamail, with Ferguson penning the book and lyrics and Jamail composing music. It premiered in 2009 in New York's Fringe Festival, and TUTS' staging of VOTE! is the Southwest regional premiere. CultureMap talked to Ferguson about coming back to Houston, VOTE's Rice influences and what it's like working with a young cast.

CultureMap: How would you describe Vote?

Ryann Ferguson: It's a high-energy cartoon musical that lovingly spoofs both the democratic process and being young in general. America is a teenager, so we set the show in high school.

CM: So where did you get the idea for VOTE? I've heard Steven mention that you were inspired by Election?

RF: Well, sort of. We knew we wanted to keep writing together, so I just started making these lists of everything I liked enough to spend years and years writing about since musicals take forever to develop. I've always loved politics so we said, what about an election ... oh, the movie Election ... well .... that's a little too astutely cynical for the way I personally write, and at the end of the day we'd rather write a wholly original piece. So I just started pulling experiences largely from my own high school experience, including my government teacher who is actually named Ms. Fowler.

CM: Has the real Ms. Fowler seen it? What does she think?

RF: She hasn't seen it, but she's dying to. She has the recording of her song and she LOVES it. She's really funny. But there are a lot of real things that happened both in high school and at Rice that are in the show. Do you remember at Rice those candidates that won on a platform of two-ply toilet paper in the colleges? That's in the show.

CM: So is there a character that's coming from your perspective, or is it more of a mix of experiences that you spread around?

RF: I think they're all a little bit me. It started out not being that way. We based people on my nemeses in high school and then I started to like them all too much. One character is sort of Steven's person, but really, I love them all.

CM: Is this the first time the show is being performed by high schoolers? Do you think it changes the dynamic?

RF: It is, and I do. We've done the show at universities before and we think younger is generally better for this show. It actually makes the show less cartoon-y because the stuff ends up being pretty close to what that age group is actually going through. I mean, in terms of becoming your own person, deciding who you want to be irrespective of your friends or your parents' expectations of you, it seems to resonate with teenagers a lot.

CM: Did you write this with that audience in mind?

RF: Yes and no. I think there are a couple of layers of humor in the show. One is definitely for young people, one layer is for, like, ADULTS. There's a lot of Nixon jokes in there. And then I think there's a lot of stuff for people my age. There's a lot of stuff about '90s politics. Ms. Fowler made us watch the Clinton documentary The War Roomin high school and I was profoundly influenced by it, so I quote James Carville and things like that.

Most of these kids have no idea who that is, not that you need to know about politics to get the show.

CM: And this is a different version of the production than premiered at the Fringe Festival in New York?

RF: Yes. I mean, at the core, it's the same story with the same message but it's kind of a different arc for a lot of characters and we finally had the time and the means to really fine tune and re-think some numbers that weren't working the way they were. There are two never-before-heard songs and some significantly reworked additional numbers.

CM: Since you and Steven both went to college in Houston, does having the show staged here hold any special significance for you?

RF: YES. I just re-watched the video I made to announce the show was coming to Houston and I sort of tear up every time I get to the part that says we've spent years building this VOTE family around the world, and now we're coming home. It's a really nice feeling to come back to the place where we met exactly 10 years later.

To go through an experience like this with the same wonderful person that you get along so well with and get to share it for a decade, it's really special. I feel very fortunate to share it with Steven, who is you know, a soulmate of kinds.

CM: What are you most excited to see in this production?

RF: The scale ... the kids. I love, love, love meeting new kids on this show, hearing what they're thinking, what their life concerns are, and this production has like 40 of them!! I want to adopt them all!

CM: How long have they been working on this?

RF: They got cast in June and they've been in rehearsals all summer, pretty much. The choreography is INSANE. There are cheerleaders and they get tossed and flipped and there are solid gold dancers. There's Lady Gaga references I think, even. It's like a smorgasbord.

CM: What's your next project? Are there more musicals in the future?

RF: Yes, Steven and I have three other musicals: Nicholas & Alexandra, about the last Romanovs of Russia; Tercio de Muerte about a bullfighter (which BBC Radio wants) and a tooth fairy musical. I also finished a novel in stories this year which I'm shopping around this fall.

VOTE!: The Musical will be performed at the Hobby Center for the Performing Arts on Friday and Saturday. Tickets are $22-35.