Noises Off, a comedy, is coming to TJ’s stage this fall.
Artwork by Mia Nogueira
Spartans, get ready for the laughs, the complex set, and the fun of Noises Off coming to Thomas Jefferson High School’s theater this November 3, 4, 5, & 6. Click here for tickets.
TJ’s stage has seen several successful plays in the last three years, including RENT: Student Edition, Moon over Buffalo, Chicago, and Footloose. Each play has a unique message, from living for today to challenging conservative social rules. TJ Theater Director and Teacher Michael Palmieri said, “When I first came here, for the straight [exclusive] plays, I did the obscure, eclectic stuff. When we did Moon Over Buffalo, the comedy went over so well and we had such a good time that I decided to go with comedy for a while.” His newest comedic offering, Noises Off, will be on the stage November 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th.
A rotating set is being designed for the play, and it will be very intricate, featuring eight doors that have to withstand slamming, staircases that must be safe, a window, and two set pieces that will drop down from the ceiling and attach to the walls of the rotating floor. Palmieri says the set will be a complicated build. “To rotate the entire set would require a platform that would have to move upstage a bit, and we want to stay downstage. We’ve taken the two end pieces of the set [walls on the side of the platform], made them separate [from the platform], and they will fly up, rotate, and then fly back down and we’ll connect them [to the platform],” said Palmieri.
Noises Off is a comedy about a group of actors trying to perform the fictitious play, Nothing On. Problems like actors forgetting their lines, a love triangle, and characters losing their contact lenses are only a few of the tribulations the characters face.
The playwrite, Michael Frayn, became inspired when he directed a performance and saw that what was going on backstage was funnier than the play that was being performed, and decided to write Noises Off. After a few trial shows, Noises Off hit the stage in 1982, and ten years later was interpreted for the big screen starring Michael Caine (The Dark Knight), Carol Burnett (The Carol Burnett Show), and Christopher Reeve (Superman).
The cast of Noises Off has been rehearsing and they are a pretty tight group. Joseph Powell, who you may remember from last year’s production of RENT: Student Edition will be playing the actor Gary Lejeune. Anna Romero will play theater veteran Dottie Otley, Mariah Linton will play the sensible Belinda Blair, Gena Pinson will play the new girl in the theater; Brooke Ashton. Jordan Antonio will play the nervous Frederick Fellows, Colby Schaller will play the director of Nothing On, Lloyd Dallas. Andrew Jason Rawlins will play an old man by the name of Selsdon Mowbray, Whitney Hackbarth will play stage manager and understudy Kim Allgood, Rosmina Garcia will play assistant stage manager and understudy Poppy Norton-Taylor. Palmieri said, “The cast chemistry is very good; we’ve got a great group of people. I think it has the potential to be a rockin’ show.”
