Jungle Theater Presents Tony-Nominated Play NOISES OFF! Tonight, 6/8

This summer Jungle Theater will stage NOISES OFF! Joel Sass will direct the Tony-nominated play by Michael Frayn, playing tonight, June 8-July 29 at the Lyn-Lake theater, 2951 Lyndale Av. S., in Minneapolis.

NOISES OFF! follows the on- and off-stage antics of a troupe of has-been and never-were actors as they stumble from bumbling dress rehearsal to the disastrous closing night of a touring play called “Nothing On.” Everything that can go wrong does in this play-within-a-play as actors desperately try to hang on to their lines, their performances…and the furniture.

“Only a perfectly calibrated ensemble can pull off this mind-boggling mayhem and present a full realization of what the playwright envisioned,” said Sass. “That’s why we’re putting it in the hands of a cast with virtuosic talent.”

Written in 1982 by British playwright Michael Frayn, NOISES OFF! was partly inspired by Frayn’s experiences with one of his earlier farces, Chinamen. He once commented that during a performance of that play, the chaos behind the scenes was often more entertaining than the action on-stage.

Starring in NOISES OFF! (and the dreadful British sex comedy, Nothing On) are several Jungle favorites: Bradley Greenwald as Frederick Fellowes (playing ‘Phillip Brent’ in Nothing On), Kirby Bennett as BeLinda Blair (playing ‘Flavia Brent’ in Nothing On), Stephen D’Ambrose as Selsdon Mowbray (playing ‘The Burglar’ in Nothing On) and Cheryl Willis as Dotty Otley (playing ‘Mrs. Clackett’ in Nothing On). Neal Skoy as Tim Allgood, stagehand for Nothing On, and E. J. Subkoviak as Lloyd Dallas, the director of Nothing On, take their second turns on the Jungle stage, and making their Jungle debuts are Summer Hagen as Brooke Ashton (playing ‘Vicki’ in Nothing On), Ryan Nelson as Garry Lejeune (playing ‘Roger Tramplemain’ in Nothing On) and Kimberly Richardson as Poppy Norton-Taylor, stage-manager for Nothing On.

Sass is also the scenic designer for NOISES OFF!, which will have a rotating set to clearly reveal the backstage antics. His creative team includes Barry Browning (lighting design), Annie Enneking (fight choreographer), Amanda Cheever (costume design), Lucinda Holshue (dialect coach), Sean Healey (sound designer), Jenny Lang (stage manager), John Novak (props) and John Stillwell (technical director).

NOISES OFF! performances are Tuesdays ($20) and Wednesdays ($28) at 7:30 p.m.; Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. ($33); Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. ($38); Sundays at 2 p.m. ($33); and Sundays at 7:30 p.m. ($28). Senior, student and group discounts are also available, and half-price rush tickets are available every night of the week 30 minutes prior to the performance for $10 off the regular price. Tickets are available at (612) 822-7063 or online at www.jungletheater.com

About the Jungle Theater: The Jungle Theater is one of the region’s most dynamic theaters, renowned for its definitive productions of plays drawn from our rich theatrical heritage as well as from the body of work written in our own time. Since founding the Jungle in 1991, Artistic Director Bain Boehlke has won numerous awards for his exquisite design, brilliant casting, and razor-sharp direction. A flagship example of the transformative power of the performing arts, the Jungle Theater plays a vital, continuing role in the economic, social and cultural life of its Minneapolis neighborhood.

Photo Credit - Dan Norman.

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