Dancers, singers, garage bands and even someone juggling while riding a unicycle all will be part of the eighth annual Lawrence High School Talent Show being staged this week.

The show runs from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Tuesday in the LHS auditorium, 1901 Louisiana. Proceeds benefit two programs at the school: a fund that helps students from lower-income families buy supplies for classes they might not otherwise be able to take; and a scholarship program for seniors who work in alcohol- and drug-prevention programs.

The local office of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans will match up to $200 of the money raised at the show, organizers said.

“This started out of wanting to give all students the chance to perform a talent,” said Diane Ash, a prevention specialist at the school and one of the talent show organizers. “We have a lot of students who are not in choir or in band but are musically talented. Then there are kids who have other skills, like they ride a unicycle and juggle at the same time. And, you know, there isn’t a place for them to perform” in the traditional school concerts and plays.

Ash said this year’s talent show will feature 21 acts.

In previous years, Ash said, performers from the talent show have gone on to try out for “American Idol,” although none has been selected so far.

But for others, it’s just a chance to showcase a talent that might not make it on stage anywhere else, like a person in last year’s show who crushed aluminum cans between his shoulder blades.

“Everyone’s mouths just dropped to the floor as they all were trying to sit there in their seats, moving their shoulder blades together to figure out how in the world he did that,” Ash said.

Tickets to the show are $4 at the door. Concessions are also available for sale, including cakes and other homemade goodies prepared by the students in the show.