The Dallas County School High Drama Club is performing a play “The Gift of the Magi.”

The show will be held Thursday at the Wallace Community College Selma Earl Goodwin Theatre at 7 p.m.

While admission is free, the club will be accepting donations for the Dallas County High Track Team the night of the event.

Each athlete has to pay to participate in the track meets, said Don Speed, an DCH English teacher who instructs the school drama club.

“I don’t want to see any kid not a get a chance to compete on the account that they couldn’t afford it,” Speed said. “We want our athletes to have every opportunity and enjoy it as well and not worry about those kinds of things.”

Normally the group has a show prior to Halloween. But since this year’s showcase theme is based on Christmas, Speed decided to have it closer to the gift-giving holiday.

Written by O. Henry, “The Gift of the Magi” is a short story about a young married couple and how they attempt to secretly buy one another Christmas presents with little money.

After about six weeks of preparation, the club presented its daytime act twice on Monday, with the audience being homeschoolers the first time and grade school children the second.

The feeling of excitement the club gets before its performance is similar to the feeling some get when they anticipate Christmas, Speed said.

“You get excited, and then it’s like wow. It’s here. Everybody gets on pins and needles and gets butterflies,“ he said. “That’s when they find how much fun acting really is — when they do it in front of an audience.”

Although the time of the event varies from the previous year, the desire to help others with each annual performance has not.

Prior to last year, the DCH Drama Club used the show to raise money to fund its operation costs.

Starting last year, the Speed decided it would be best to benefit others.

In 2013, the group accepted canned food drive donations the evening of their annual showcase.

“We always try to find something that we can give back to the community with,” Speed said.

“There is so little money to go around, and in schools money is tight for everyone. “

For more information, call Dallas County High School at (334) 366-2232.