CHARLOTTESVILLE, VA (CVILLE RIGHT NOW) – The curtain went up Friday on a local production of the musical “Dogfight,” the debut for Charlottesville’s first year-round theater company, Venture Stage Company.

“It felt like the right show for this time,” director Andrew Betz told Cville Right Now. “Though it does present a lot of what is not right about the American character it also portrays some of the resilience and hope that is characteristic of America both at that time and something that a lot of us are trying to hold onto right now.”

Dogfight is based on the 1991 movie of the same name, starring River Phoenix and Lili Taylor. Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the writers of “LaLa Land” and “The Greatest Showman,” adapted it to a musical in 2012.

Set in San Francisco in 1963, the show follows a group of Marines on the eve of their deployment to Vietnam, which happens to also be the day before the Kennedy assassination.

“It is about how you meet people and how they affect you and how your life changes through them,” said New York-based actor Matthew Clemetson, who plays Eddie Birdlace, one of the Marines. “But also, it touches on a lot of heavy stuff that America had to deal with at that time.”

The show really focuses in on relationships, both long and short term, said actress Katie Wall, a Fluvanna native who plays Rose Fenny, a coffee shop waitress who meets Birdlace.

“Dogfight is about how as a person, you experience people in life,” Wall said. “You cross paths with people who don’t necessarily stay in your life, but it’s about how they impact you and the person you become.”

To make sure the depiction of military life was accurate, Venture enlisted the help of retired combat Marine James Hunter, the quartermaster at VFW Post 1827 to consult on the project. Hunter sat in on a rehearsal of the show about two weeks before Friday’s opening night.

Betz said Venture is an offshoot of Dreams Made Real Adventures, and that DMR staff has been helping to support and guide the new company. He credited the work of producing artistic director Melissa Charles and technical director August Applewhite with helping the production come together.

Venture’s goal, Betz said, is to provide the stability of a year-round, professional theater company, where local artists and out-of-town talent combine to contribute something to what he called an already thriving live arts scene in the Charlottesville area.

“We’re really interested in cooperating and collaborating with area theaters,” Betz said. “Places like Four County Players and Live Arts are extremely well-established local theaters with loyal followings. They do incredible work, and when we are established, we’re interested to see where we land in the theater community in Charlottesville. We’re interested in bringing out of town resources and attention to a theater community that is already flourishing.”

The show runs through Nov. 15 at the Belmont Arts Collaborative.