Emily Hurtin, 19, said the project, which she admits really wasn’t supposed to be as much of a project as it turned into, started when she was listening to a cast recording in her car.

The CD was the soundtrack from “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown.” That might seem an odd musical selection for a freshman college student until you realize Hurtin, Bothell High Class of ‘08, is a theater major at Central Washington University.

“I just realized I really wanted to do this show,” she said.

Toward that end, Hurtin soon had the help of old friend Andrew Carter, 18, another Central theater major and another member of the Bothell High Class of ‘08.

With Hurtin directing and Carter handling the producing and technical aspects, the pair planned on staging one performance of the show in space provided by the Northshore Performing Arts Center. Carter said he just mentioned the idea of the play to someone in the Bothell High drama department and things just kind of fell into place, at least temporarily.

In the meantime, while casting the play, Hurtin turned to some old high-school friends.

“Charlie Brown” has a small cast of only eight players. In this case, six of those are Bothell High alumni, some having graduated only a few weeks past. A seventh cast member will be in his senior year at Bothell High next fall.

“I needed people I could trust,” Hurtin said, adding she also wanted people she felt could memorize their parts in a short amount of time.

Hurtin and her hand-picked cast are rehearsing roughly five hours a day, five days a week in an aerobics room at Bothell High. They had roughly two weeks to get the play ready. Mostly for financial reasons, the production venue was switched suddenly to the Black Box Theater of Edmonds Community College.

While Hurtin said the Black Box Theater has some plusses, the change also came with some new challenges. While they received advertising and other help from the college, they quickly had to form their own production company, Athena Stage Productions. Carter already had obtained a grant from Central to help with lighting the play, but the pair had to come up with insurance and ways to cover over expenses connected with what will now be a three-day run of the play with four performances, July 9-11.

“Things got a little complicated, but I’m excited,” Hurtin said.

While Hurtin and Carter might be in the first year of their college programs, they are old pros when it comes to Bothell High shows. For example, Hurtin directed the school’s production of “Much Ado About Nothing,” as well as a piece on bullies, “Thank You for Flushing My Head in the Toilet.”

Still, what she seems most proud of to date is winning the school’s one-act play competition with a rendition of “Drop Dead, Juilet,” which featured several of the cast members recruited for “Charlie Brown.”

“I really enjoyed working with her,” said Holden Bicknell, 17, a member of the Bothell High Class of ‘09 who plays piano protege Schroeder in “Charlie Brown.” He’s also working toward a technical internship with Northshore Performing Arts.

Another member of the Bothell High Class of ‘09, Julie Sheldon said she had to help out her friend Hurtin.

“I really didn’t have any choice,” added Sheldon, or Peppermint Patty.

Incidentally, why did Hurtin choose the “Charlie Brown” play?

“‘Peanuts’ is something everybody knows,” she said, adding the show can appeal to children and adults alike.

Carter said he and Hurtin have been friends since junior high school. They developed their interest in theater and the arts together, their first production being an eight-minute horror film, over which Carter now cringes and Hurtin describes as “absolutely terrible.” Still, Hurtin seems certain “Charlie Brown” will show the pair’s theatrical skills have increased since that 10th-grade effort.

With that in mind, is “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” the first and final effort of Athena Stage Productions? Carter shrugs.

“I think we have to get through this first,” he said.