A musical and visual sensation is coming to the Mississippi School of the Arts parking lot on Thursday.

The school will be hosting the Squonk Opera “Go Roadshow,” a group of performers who have retrofitted a 13-ton, 38-foot-long monster truck into a rolling two-story stage, which will be parked in the Student Life Center parking lot. The event starts at 6 p.m. and is free to the public.

“They are a performance group out of Pennsylvania and they incorporate all of the arts in their work,” said MSA Executive Director Suzanne Hirsch.

The spectacular stage on wheels is complete with lights, sound system, a truck-horn calliope, a spinning grand piano and other visual treats.

“Basically the truck opens up and the set fits inside of it,” said Hirsch.

The performance will include music, art, movement – a little bit of everything.

The Mississippi School of the Arts is celebrating its 10th year. This show will kick off a few months of celebration.

“We just hope that people will come out and celebrate with us,” said Hirsch.

This is the group’s first performance at the school. The troupe came in February to teach workshops to the students, including storyboarding, creating stories from music, music improvisation, visual arts and much more.

The group will be teaching several workshops for MSA students while in town for the show, as well. Sixteen total workshops will have been taught by the time they depart.

“(MSA) is the only place in the Southeast United States that they’ll be doing,” said Hirsch, speaking of the show.

Residents are reminded to bring lawns chairs to enjoy the roadshow that includes an interactive blimp.

“It’s a very multi-disciplinary piece,” said Hirsch.

The group writes everything from scratch for their show, so nothing has been seen before anywhere else. All of the music is original.

“I just hope that people will come out and enjoy it,” said Hirsch.