Led by a small group of passionate students, DCAP is a week out from premiering its annual show at Bendigo South East College’s Performing Arts Centre.

The club wrote the show, The Miscellaneous Musical, which features musical performances from the cast of nine.

It has been a rocky road for DCAP this year after it intended to put on Sandy Wilson’s musical The Boy Friend (1954).

“Rehearsals for The Boy Friend started in March but we didn’t get the rights for that so it prompted us to write our own show,” DCAP president Brittany Ashman said.

“The script was a work in progress for about four weeks. It’s a lot of little bits put together and collectively it tells a story of the club’s year.”

Last year DCAP out on a Twisted Broadway version of Cabaret where songs are sung by the opposite gender (boys singing girl's parts and vice versa).

It was the club’s first major production since reforming in 2011.

“We are still trying to get the club back on its feet, so this is our only show for the year,” Brittany said.

“It’s challenging but so rewarding to be back on stage. We are a very inclusive club and like giving people the chance to perform.

Brittany is in her second year at La Trobe and joined DCAP not long after arriving at university.

Fellow cast member and DCAP’s vice-president Emma Ewing has been with the club since before she was at university.

“I had some friends in the club and they voted me into the executive team before I started. So It was pretty much an apprenticeship for me,” she said.

“The first few year we had some meetings at the university but nothing came of it.

“It’s really hard work - especially when there are so many other big (theatre) groups in Bendigo that we have to compete against.”

DCAP’s membership is about 30 people but the club is hoping to grow it with successful shows.

“A lot of people help with fundraising and other bits and pieces but we don't have any facilities,” Emma said.

“Other theatre companies don’t always work for us because we have to fit it in around out studies.”

About 25 people auditioned for The Boy Friend but Emma said numbers dropped off when the show was forced to change.

“What’s left is a dedicated group of people who really want to be doing the show,” she said.

“They are passion and happy to be on stage.”

The nine-person cast is made up of a range of students studying everything from education, science, photography and arts.

And from the glimpse of the rehearsal the Bendigo Advertiser saw, there are some impressive voices practising hard in a classroom at the back of the campus.

The songs come from a range of musicals with For Good from Wicked, Hakuna Matata from The Lion King, The New World from Songs for a New World, Mamma Mia’s Gimme Gimme Gimme and Let It Go from Frozen all set to feature.

The show also features original songs written by the cast.

“We tried to pick some ballads, some fun ones, solos and choruses,” Emma said.

DCAP’s The Miscellaneous Musical runs from August 28 to 30 from 7pm at the Bendigo South East College Performing Arts Centre in Ellis Street, Flora Hill.

Tickets cost $20 or $15 for concession and can be bought from the Bendigo Student Association at La Trobe University or at the door.

See a gallery from DCAP’s latest rehearsal at www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au