MAUMELLE — It’s been 10 years since a small group of community-theater patrons formed the Maumelle Players.
To kick off its 10th-anniversary season, the local acting troupe will present what the director calls “the funniest show ever” — Noises Off, by Michael Frayn.
“It’s hilarious,” said Laura Nichols of Little Rock, director of the production. “It’s a farce. It’s about a show within a show.
“If you do a search on the Internet for ‘funniest plays ever,’ it appears at the top of the list.”
The Maumelle Players will present Noises Off at 7 p.m. May 14-16 and at 3 p.m. May 17 at their theater in the Little Scholars Academy, 10910 Maumelle Blvd.
Tickets are $15 for adults and $12 for seniors 65 and older and students. Tickets may be purchased on the group’s website, www.maumelleplayers.org.
Noises Off premiered in London in 1982 and opened on Broadway in 1983. The play has been rewritten and revived several times.
A movie version of Noises Off was released in 1992 and starred, among others, Michael Caine, Carol Burnett, Christopher Reeve and John Ritter.
Nichols said Jeff Riggs of Maumelle, vice president of the theater troupe’s board of directors, suggested the play.
“He’s known about it for a long time,” said Nichols, who is making her directorial debut with the Maumelle Players. “He brought it to the board’s attention.”
Nichols has been involved in several productions by the Maumelle Players, including appearing on stage, but she usually works behind the scenes with props. She is the social-services director for Lakewood Health and Rehabilitation Center in North Little Rock.
“The board felt like we needed a really good show to bring in people for our 10th anniversary,” Nichols said. “This one is going to do it.”
Victor Werner of Maumelle, one of the founding members of the Maumelle Players and the group’s current president, is producer for the upcoming show.
He and his crew have built a two-story set on casters that rotates.
Noises Off is a three-act play, and the stage rotates between each act. During a recent rehearsal, it took most of the nine-member cast to set up and rotate the set.
“The set has seven fully functioning doors, one in the attic; a window that opens; and a staircase that goes up and down on both sides,” Nichols said.
In a synopsis of Noises Off, Werner said each of the three acts contains a performance of the first act of a poor farce, “Nothing On.”
“Act 1 is set at the dress rehearsal, where actors and actresses are hopelessly unready, baffled by all the entrances and exits, missed cues and lines, and bothersome props,” Werner said.
“Act 2 involves a matinee performance, but this time the stage is reversed, and the audience sees all the shenanigans and deteriorating relationships that go on backstage while “Nothing On” is being performed on the other side of the set, unseen but heard by the audience.
“Act 3 returns to the front of the stage, and the troupe is trying to end up a 10-week run of the show,” Werner said. “Personal friction has increased, but the actors are determined at all costs to cover up the mounting series of mishaps, but it is not too long before the plot is abandoned completely,” Werner said. “Much of the slapstick comedy evolves from the contrast between the players’ onstage and offstage personalities, which are always a source of comic dissonance.”
Noises Off cast members include the following:
• Bryan Altstatt of Maumelle plays Lloyd, the director of “Nothing On.”
Originally from Pine Bluff, Altstatt is making his debut with the Maumelle Players. He has appeared in many theatrical productions in Pine Bluff.
“I am a veteran community-theater actor,” he said. “I’ve pretty much done everything except direct.
“My character is a loud, abrasive, sarcastic director,” he said with a laugh. “He’s also a bit of a womanizer who seems to be juggling too many women at once, and it comes back to bite him.
“I’ve having a good time with it,” Altstatt said. “It’s been about six years since I’ve been on stage. I’ve been missing it so bad. I’m working the midnight shift now, and that gave me an opportunity to get back on stage.”
Altstatt is a dispatch officer with the Little Rock Police Department.
• Mike Knabe of Little Rock appears as Selsdon, a veteran actor.
Selsdon is an alcoholic who tries to hide his bottles on stage.
Knabe also plays a burglar in the play within the play.
“It’s really a funny play,” said Knabe, who is making his third appearance with the Maumelle Players.
Knabe is a social worker at the Arkansas State Hospital.
“I think this is a good play for actors to come and see,” he said. “The second act, especially, is a physical comedy — very complicated with a lot of timing issues.”
• Jennifer Walker of Little Rock plays Dotty, a late-middle-aged actress.
“My character has been on a sitcom for a long time and has been typecast as a comedian,” she said. “She’s having an affair with a younger man and gets a new lease on life.”
Although this is the first time Walker has appeared with the Maumelle Players, she has been in theater since she was a child growing up in Wisconsin.
Walker is a nurse at CHI St. Vincent Infirmary in Little Rock.
• Erica Hlebinsky of Conway appears as Poppy.
Nichols said Poppy is the stage manager and a “timid character.”
Hlebinsky teaches second grade at Academics Plus Charter School in Maumelle.
• Trevor Arnett of Marche appears as Freddie, an American actor.
“He’s an aloof character in a way,” Arnett said. “He comes from a decent upbringing, is very educated and slightly absentminded.
“He abhors violence and blood and has frequent nosebleeds.”
Arnett is making his debut with the Maumelle Players. He has appeared in plays in Little Rock, “but it’s been a long time,” he said.
He is a social worker at Gentiva Hospice in Conway.
• Stefanie Johnston of Little Rock plays Belinda, a cheerful actress.
“My character is optimistic and cheerful,” Johnston said. “She wants everyone to get along well and to be a success. She tries to smooth things over when anything goes wrong.
“The plays is lots of fun. I get a cardio workout going up and down the stairs, in and out of the doors, all while wearing heels.”
This is the third show Johnston has appeared in with the Maumelle Players. She is a social worker at Gentiva Hospice in Conway.
• Ryan Wyre plays Tim, the assistant stage manager.
Nichols said this character is “confused and stressed out.”
This is the first time Wyre has acted with the Maumelle Players. He lives in Little Rock and works at a restaurant in Conway.
• Erica Monday of Maumelle appears as Brooke, a young inexperienced actress.
“Brooke is not the most intellectual individual of our generation, or of all time,” Monday said with a laugh. “She loses her contacts and just can’t see, but she does stay on book.”
Monday is a longtime player with the local community-theater troupe; she is the current secretary of the board of directors. She is a physician’s liaison at Arkansas Children’s Hospital in Little Rock.
• Jeff Riggs appears as Garry, a veteran actor.
“He can only speak in full sentences and only onstage,” Riggs said. “He cannot speak a coherent thought offstage.”
Riggs is a local financial adviser.
“I do a lot of physical comedy in this play,” he said, pointing out his knee pads. “I fall down stairs, laughing.
“I’ve seen videos of the play. It is one of the funniest plays ever written. It is laugh-out-loud funny.”