AIDS, homosexual sex and love affairs are only a few of the topics addressed in Paula Vogel’s controversial play “The Long Christmas Ride Home,” which will be performed by Ohio State’s Department of Theatre Thursday in Thurber Theatre at the Drake Performance and Event Center.

Audiences will watch the progression of a family after an unfortunate incident occurs during a trip to church and the grandparents’ house during the Christmas season. The story begins with narration by the mother and father and continues on to character monologues of the three young children after they become adults. The ill-fated situation alters the future of the family and seems likely to mess up the lives of the children.

Beth Kattelman was picked to direct “The Long Christmas Ride Home.” She has been directing since she was an undergraduate student and has experience with puppetry, the same form of this play.

“The play is done in a combination of a Japanese-style puppetry and a western tradition so that you get a combination of east and west cultures,” Kattelman said.

Vogel is an American playwright who includes bunraku, an ancient Japanese form of puppetry, in “The Long Christmas Ride Home.”

The audience can expect a very adult-themed experience. Some aspects of the play may be considered taboo. Portrayed through shadows, the son has unprotected sex with a male shadow puppet who has AIDS. One daughter catches her girlfriend cheating on her and contemplates suicide. Another woman becomes pregnant by a man other than her boyfriend. The human actors interact with shadow puppets to make these scenes happen.

“People will be offended, but it’s not about being in your face, it’s about showing what happens to these characters,” said Audrey Rush, a third-year in theater who works one of the shadow puppets. “Feel however you want but this is people’s lives.”

The three children in the beginning of the play are portrayed by bunraku puppets. The puppets were constructed out of wire, sculpted foam, stuffing and fabric to look like the actors playing the wrecked adult versions.

Each puppet is controlled by three actors went through movement and exercises to work with each other. Shadow puppets are also characters and are controlled by five actors.

Because the puppets’ faces are fixed, actors render emotion of the puppets only through body language. Teamwork is necessary to make the scenes realistic.

“Everything we do is dependent on each other,” Rush said. “From day one it was never separate work, it was the entire cast working together on all the movement.”

The rehearsal process determined who would be puppeteers depending on who was interested and had an aptitude for it. Faculty members and guest directors ultimately had the say on who received what part.

Kattelman thinks it will be a unique experience for the audience because puppetry isn’t accessible to most viewers. The puppeteers in this play working in conjunction with each other to bring the characters to life is often a new encounter for viewers.

The play will run Thursday through Saturday at 7:30 p.m., Sunday at 3 p.m. and at 7:30 p.m. May 26-28.