Noises Off at Lakewood Theatre Company

LAKEWOOD THEATRE COMPANY PRESENTS THE COMEDY NOISES OFF FEBRUARY 28 – APRIL 6, 2025 Lakewood Theatre Company presents Noises Off, a hilarious comedy about the backstage antics of a touring theatre troupe in England. With stage direction by Don Alder, LTC’s production showcases the talents of Sarah Lucht, Grant Byington, Ariel Puls, Tom Mounsey, Bonnie Auguston, Andy Baldwin, Tom Walton, Melissa Whitney, and Mark Schwahn. Performances: Thurs-Sat at 7:30 PM, Sundays at 2:00 PM, one Saturday (March 29) at 2:00 PM, and one Wednesday performance (March 19) at 7:30 PM. Lakewood Theatre Company features an intimate 220-seat theatre located at Lakewood Center for the Arts, 368 S. State Street in Lake Oswego. The Title Sponsor for Noises Off is Bonnie Conger, and the Directorial Sponsors are Barbara G. Warner and Samantha Richardson. Ticket prices are $42 for adults and $40 for seniors (65+). Other discounts are available for students and groups. For additional information and tickets, call the Lakewood Box Office at (503) 635-3901 or order online at www.lakewood-center.org. Special note: On Wednesday, March 19, the theatre will continue its Wine on Wednesday program, WOW: 25-35. Tickets are $30 each for audience members 35 and under. Use the code WOW25 when ordering tickets online to get this special discount. A local vineyard will provide a complimentary wine tasting one hour before the curtain at this performance. OLCC rules apply! Bring your ID for the tasting! Noises Off, written by Michael Frayn, is a hilarious spoof of those English bedroom comedies that seem to run endlessly in the English provinces. In theatre terminology, “noises off” refers to commotion offstage. In Frayn’s play, the noises are the backstage yelps and battle cries of the actors who find themselves caught in a sex farce of their own. The Story: A group of mediocre touring actors is tasked with presenting a cheeky little sex farce titled Nothing On. Everything goes wrong, except for the things that are supposed to go wrong. With a plot featuring errant plates of sardines, misplaced clothing, and an Arab sheik, Nothing On is the most absurd and poorly acted play one could ever hope to see. The actors who stumble into view are undoubtedly a motley crew. The leading lady, portrayed as a cheerful housemaid, is Dotty (Sarah Lucht), a washed-up television comedienne who loses track of those sardines. Her fellow performers vary from Selsdon (Grant Byington), a stubborn drunk who continually misses cues, to Brooke (Bonnie Auguston), a perpetually vacant ingenue who often misplaces her contact lenses mid-sentence. Guiding them all is Lloyd (Tom Mounsey), a confused director who interrupts the performance to inform his company that “doors and sardines” represent what farce, theatre, and life “are all about.” The entourage also includes Garry (Tom Walton), a frazzled leading man; Freddy (Mark Schwahn), the unstable second player who loses his wife, sanity, and pants; Belinda (Melissa Whitney), a gossipy yet sweet actress trying to hold the show together; and two dim-witted backstage workers, Tim and Poppy (Andy Baldwin and Ariel Puls). When we first meet our band of unhappy players, they are cheerfully rehearsing the first act of Nothing On, which loosely involves a young real estate agent taking a pretty secretary to the country home of a couple supposedly hiding in Spain from the income tax collectors. It is a midnight dress rehearsal, and they are set to open the tour the next day in a country town grandly named Weston-super-Mare. With only a few rehearsals behind them, everything goes awry — from misplaced lines to misplaced sardines. In the course of the play, we watch the Nothing On company repeat the same first act again and again in different towns, tearing the scenery, the dialogue, and each other apart. By the time Nothing On gets to its final engagement at Stockton-on-Tees, nerves, scenery, and love affairs are in tatters. LTC’s production of Noises Off is directed by Don Alder, who also directed Lakewood’s initial staging of the play in 2000 and again in 2007. Lakewood’s Executive Producer, Steve Knox, mentions that "Noises Off has been the most requested play to be restaged by the theatre’s subscriber audience.” The stage design for Noises Off is by Chris Whitten Design, the lighting design is by Dug Martell, the sound design is by Marcus Storey, the props design is by Jim Crino, and the costume design is by Janelle Sutton. The stage manager is Cassie Kanios, the assistant stage manager is Megan Misslin and the producer is Steve Knox.