Thomas Jefferson’s theatre department has pulled off the unthinkable: a fully rotating set. photo by Ayo Leigh
Noises Off, a British comedy, was recently performed for this year’s fall play.
November holds many exciting events for Thomas Jefferson High School, one of them being the fall play. This year’s play, Noises Off, written by English playwright Michael Frayn, was directed by TJ’s own Andre Moss, first went into production in October and debuted November 13th. Moss explained that Noises Off is a British farce about a group of actors attempting to put on a play called Nothing On. However, things go very wrong, people miss their lines, people start fighting, people miss their entrances and exits. It just devolves into chaos the further that you go.” Moss has directed seven productions before Noises Off, and chose to do this play because “this has always been a play that I’ve wanted to do. My high school did it when I was in high school, I think TJ did it about ten years ago, before I got here, the technical director, and Mallaney performed the play when they taught at DSA. It is just a well-structured play, and you can find many schools doing it because it is just that good.”
Noises Off was first performed in 1982, but Frayn conceived the idea in 1970 while watching another farce he had written, The Two Of Us. Noises Off has been a beloved comedy amongst many. The theatre department worked tirelessly for weeks to ensure a smooth debut at TJ.
The cast for the play included senior Kit Leatherman (Dotty Otley), junior Jeremiah Torres (Lloyd Dallas), freshman Joss Beren (Garry Lejeune), senior Simone DiFalco (Brooke Ashton), junior Makalya Johnson (Poppy Norton-Taylor), junior David Ornelas (Frederick Fellowes), senior Evelyn Jackson (Belinda Blair), freshman Harley Storey (Tim Allgood), senior Ethan Petersen (Selsdon Mowbray). The actors all worked diligently with the support from the tech leads: senior Celeste Escobar (stage manager), senior Ethan Smolinski (Set designer), senior Ori Nguyen (prop master), senior Amelia Danielson (costume designer), senior Keagan Figueroa (lighting designer), and junior Logan Tamburello (sound designer). The cast and crew delivered tenfold, presenting their audience with a well-produced, hilarious production.
The most challenging part of the show was the moving set. In the original play, the set rotates halfway through the production. Rotating a whole set is no easy feat, especially for a high school production but the talented TJ’s drama department persevered through the challenges they faced and created the rotating set of their dreams.
While the play has concluded, theatre enthusiasts should keep a lookout for the spring musical. Into The Woods, originally written in 1986, is a musical written and directed by American playwright James Lapine, with music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, that weaves together multiple Grimm Brothers fairytales, including “Cinderella,” “Little Red Riding Hood,” “Jack and the Beanstalk,” and” Rapunzel.” Kudos to Moss for directing another successful play, and kudos to the theatre cast and crew for creating and performing another amazing production for the TJ community.
