Drama department to showcase year’s last student production

From June 2-4, both of the drama classes will be showcasing the last production of the year in the Little Theatre: “Noises Off,” a 1982 comedic play written by Michael Frayn about the hectic scramble and behind the scenes of a drama production.

“Noises Off” is about a group of actors aspiring to produce a successful play, “Nothing On,” a comedic love farce. Along the way, however, they are faced with missed cues, personal problems between cast members and many other hectic situations. The three acts take place during the last dress rehearsal, the matinee show and behind the stage during the final performance, depicting the hilarious disorder of a production of a play.

“[‘Noises Off’] is really awesome. It’s basically a play about a play,” junior Penny Burgess said. “My character is the assistant stage manager, so she’s running about back stage trying to help out in any way.”

The play will highlight different actors in each act. “Noises Off” has no main character, but is an ensemble effort. This fast-paced play often combines several conflicts together, at times with several conflicts simultaneously occurring, to exaggerate the turmoil and disorder of a real production.

“The second act that is backstage scene is the most fun. Only the people on stage are talking and everyone off stage is completely silent,” Burgess said. “It’s really hectic though. Like you’re [in the middle of an argument] and then you realize, ‘Oh, my cue!’ and you run onto the stage.“

This production has two casts of 10 actors each. Cast members received their scripts at the beginning of the semester and have been rehearsing since the beginning of April. The main cast, comprised of all seniors, will perform three shows, and the understudy cast, comprised of underclassmen, will perform the matinee show on Saturday.

“We’re excited we can all work together to put this play together since it’s our last year,” said senior Ariana Parazino, who plays Dotty in the main cast. “It’s going to be great because we have all the people with the most experience trying to make the play work.”

Drama teacher Kerry Mohnike, who will be directing the play, specially chose this play for the seniors.

“First, ‘Noises Off’ is one of my favorite shows of all time and it’s hysterical,” Mohnike said. “And second, which is probably the most important reason because it absolutely fits the talent that we have in the advanced drama class. Right now, we have a class of seniors that are all really strong and have [great] comedic skills. It’s just the perfect show for this group.”

Complete with love triangles, slapstick comedy, and a lot of drama, “Noises Off” is sure to be a great last production.

“Everyone seems to love their characters a lot. We’ve been working on it really hard by rehearsing in class, which is really fun since the play is so visual,” Burgess said. “This is a show we’ve all heard about and we all love because it’s so funny.”