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Krista Fleming

Junior Elyse Brown (left) and seniors Shane Duggan and Maya Ware perform a scene during the finale. Brown holds a plate of sardines, which consistently gets misplaced and brought up throughout the show.

The theater department will perform its first show of the year, the comedy “Noises Off” Sept. 26-28 in the black box theater at 7 p.m., with an understudy performance at 2 p.m. on Sept. 28. Students can purchase tickets for $5 in the cafeteria or online. 

“The general public loves comedy,” head director Chelsey Thornburg said. “[The show] is the best way to invite our community back into the space because [of how] fun it is. It’s our way of saying ‘Welcome back to Hebron Theatre.’”

“Noises Off” is a British farce that follows a theater company putting on a show. The comedy is divided into three acts, showing the rehearsal, the cast members backstage during a performance and a second, more derailed performance later that night. This is the first time students have done a play within a play at Hebron. 

“[The play] shows just how stressful [a performance] can be,” stage manager Hannah Mcnelly said. “You can see the panic in the actors’ eyes when everything starts to go wrong. That’s how I would feel — that’s how we all feel. Now, we get to share that.” 

Between each act there will be a short intermission where the crew will flip the set back and forth. Thornburg said the difficult demands of an intricate set that can flip was a big reason she chose the play. 

“Giving students a challenge forces them to step up,” Thornburg said. “Whether or not students choose to step up, the play will go on. It’s that urgency that pushes them to rise up.” 

Certain actors have to play two separate characters: the actor and the character that actor is playing. Lead Shane Duggan said that he has seen his classmates have fun with the show, regardless of the challenges. 

“We’re built for comedy,” Duggan said. “Everybody in our class has very good comedic timing. It’s a challenge because you have to have those serious moments within it all, but the cast has come together to find the balance between too much and too little.” 

Actors and technicians auditioned for the show the first two days of school, and have rehearsed since. Duggan said, though the cast gets tired, they’ll all be excited by opening night. 

“That week going into the show, there’s this crazy new energy that gets into everyone,” Duggan said. “There’s adrenaline and nerves, but we keep going. That energy continues and opening night makes some sort of magic.”