The road to creating a feature-length movie has taken Racheal Droege years of planning, hundreds of hours of filming and editing and a fistful of trials and errors.

And after working furiously for the last few months, Droege's artistic creation, "To Meet the Stranger," is ready for its premiere.

Filmed entirely in Lancaster County with local actors, "To Meet the Stranger" will open with a red-carpet reception tonight at 9 p.m. at Building Character, 342 N. Queen St., Warehouse B.

Droege, a Lancaster resident, said she always wanted to create a feature film but didn't think she would ever make it the whole way through the process, considering she had no directing experience.

"I almost gave up a lot of times," Droege said. "I guess it was just the passion of creating something that kept it there."

The movie revolves around the character of Jonny (played by Timothy Riggs), who is completely distraught with the illusions of society and people who submit to careless lifestyles.

While sitting on a park bench, Jonny decides the only thing that can be done is to tell a good story, so he begins writing and creating characters. Each character he creates symbolizes some sort of flaw in society, including lunacy and sorrow.

Jonny begins to fall asleep on the bench, and his subconscious mind starts to fill in the story through dreams. As he sleeps, Jonny comes face to face with his own addictions and insanity.

"Through all of this (Jonny) realizes his connections to these characters that he's created and the parallels that are drawn between the physical world and the dream world," Droege said.

The concept of "Stranger" began in November of 2005, when Droege started writing a script on the back of napkins at Señorita Burrita. She didn't decide to make a movie until June 2006.

Filming wrapped up in the spring of 2007 with 18 hours of footage to edit down into 90 minutes.

Three months ago, Droege's computer hard drive crashed, causing her to lose all of the edited footage. She said the concept of the movie changed after she went back to work, focusing on one character instead of all seven.

"It's funny what editing can do," Droege said.

Local musician Ryan Overly composed the soundtrack, working with Droege. She said Overly was the first person she told about the movie, and he is the only one who has seen what the movie will look like in its final form.

"It was a big role to take on, but (Ryan) did a pretty amazing job with it," Droege said.

Some of the other characters in "Stranger" include the temptress in the dream world, played by Christina Cruz. Droege said the character is symbolic of the addiction with which Jonny copes.

Monet, played by Elizabeth Cole, is described as an absolute lunatic who has an obsessive nature and laughs a lot, but the laughter comes of desperation.

Droege said she wanted to create an experimental film that was thought-provoking, with a deep sense of connection to the characters.

"I feel like there's a little bit of me in every character," Droege said. "And I feel like almost all human beings could probably say the same thing, even if it's just a minimal amount. They could probably find some way to connect with that character."

Film Premiere, "To Meet the Stranger," by Racheal Droege of Lancaster, today 9 p.m. (preceded by live music by the Outhouse, part of Music Friday, 6 p.m.-9 p.m.), Sat. 6 p.m., Sun. 4 p.m., Building Character, 342 N. Queen St., $5, 394-7201.

E-mail: myoder@lnpnews.com