Fans of the Disney musical “Newsies” generally know the titular group of characters as boys, but a local theater company’s upcoming production is expanding the show to include female and nonbinary characters.

Amherst Community Theater will present “Newsies” from Thursday, Jan. 16, through Sunday, Jan. 19, and Thursday, Jan. 23, and Sunday, Jan. 26, at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.

The show, based on the real Newsboys Strike of 1899, is about a group of “newsies” (plucky, hardscrabble children and young adults who sell newspapers) in New York City. Led by the charismatic Jack Kelly, the newsies unite to strike against unfair treatment and price hikes. Some of the show’s hit songs include ”Carrying the Banner,” ”King of New York,” ”Seize the Day,” and ”The World Will Know.”

The Amherst cast, however, includes female and nonbinary performers; ensemble newsies were likewise allowed to choose their characters’ names and genders. Director Megan Healey, a longtime fan of the musical who has studied its real-world historical context thoroughly, said casting the show that way is not only historically accurate — some newsies were girls, and some were gender-nonconforming — but it also adds a certain depth to the songs. When those actors sing about things like gender inequality and unfair wages, they do so with a sense of personal conviction from their own lives.

“I’m sure actors can pull from nothingness or from character studies,” they said, “but all of our actors are pulling from something that they know deeply.”

Clay Gregory, who plays Davey, one of the leading newsies, is nonbinary. This production gave them the opportunity to “embody a role I never would have a chance to in traditional casting,” they said, and it gave Davey the chance to grow in a way that the original musical didn’t allow — “to be a little angrier in a way that I really like, a little more self-assured, a little more powerful.”

“In the original production, he really hangs onto his anxiety the whole way through,” Gregory said. “I wanted Davey to get in there and be excited and have such a full range of emotions.”

Emma Yee, who plays Katherine Plummer, the determined reporter who brings the newsies’ strike to the public eye, said that this production likewise allowed her to make her character stronger and more independent, to make her “a Katherine that felt not like any other, that was my own.” Katherine is integrated into more songs and given more stage time in the Amherst production than the original script calls for, highlighting her significant influence on and support for the newsies’ fight. In the Broadway show, Katherine stays on the ground during her feature song “Watch What Happens,” where she wrestles with uncertainty as she writes her first story about the strike. In the Amherst show, however, she moves around on the centerpiece of the set, a five-tower modular structure with multiple levels.

Though the show has been in rehearsal since October, the actors have only had access to that structure for a few days as of this writing. What’s it been like to get used to performing on it — with all the ladder-climbing that that entails — after months of rehearsing on flat ground?

“Crazy. It’s been crazy,” Gregory said. “I’m finding muscles in my arms and legs I didn’t know I had.”

Still, they added: “It’s been tough but exciting, because it feels like the show and the world of the show is really coming to life.”

In light of the current political climate, the musical’s overarching theme of rising up against injustice and authority, even when you feel powerless, hits home for a lot of the cast. Jayse Matrishon, who plays the newsie Mush, said in an email: “‘Newsies’ will always be relevant when the younger generations are ignored. Just because we haven’t been around as long doesn’t mean our voices can be ignored. We will be living with the consequences of today far longer than many in power right now will. Let us help take charge of our own future, and maybe, just maybe, something good will come from it.”

Healey, likewise, hopes that audience members appreciate the show’s relevance to the modern day: “We have joked, ‘It’s not your mama’s ‘Newsies,’’ but it really is a really fresh new take on a classic.”

“I think it really appeals to kids, who can see themselves in the characters, and I also think adults will love the music, will love the dancing, and will love the power of the storyline,” said Gregory.

“We have a lot of really incredible performers, and I think, from top to bottom, this is gonna be a really wonderful show.”

Tickets are $28 for adults, $23 for students and seniors, and $18 for kids 10 and under at amherst.csstix.com. All tickets are $18 on Thursday, Jan. 16, only.

Carolyn Brown can be reached at cbrown@gazettenet.com.