After earning gushing reviews on her recent Australian tour, Amanda Palmer is set to go back to her roots. She’ll take a starring role in a new theatre production based on the song In The Aeroplane Over The Sea by US indie-rock champions Neutral Milk Hotel.

So far so normal – except that the play is to be staged by Lexington High School, where Palmer spent her teenage years. The sultry chanteuse has begun rehearsing alongside the students, with the show set to open on 7 May in the school auditorium.

“It’s an original play about music and the Holocaust written by insanely talented drama students with musical accompaniment by me,” Palmer told Pitchfork. “My high school theater director, Steven Bogart, is one of my biggest artistic mentors and I’ve been trying to get back there since I left.”