The EHS Drama Program performed its fall play “Noises Off” the weekend of Nov. 9, 10 and 11. The play, written by Michael Frayn, is a story within a story comedy, featuring a cast of eccentric actors and a frustrated director getting ready to perform their play.

Only nine actors appear on stage during the three-act play. In the first act, the audience gets a glimpse at a dress rehearsal and their first taste of the scene. In act two and three, the cast performs two separate performances, one from backstage and one as an audience member.

“It is a farcical comedy so it’s all about confused identities, slammed doors. It’s a really high-speed kind of slapstick comedy,” Drama Director Ashley Melton said to the Intelligencer. “And as any theater person would say, ‘It’s all in the timing.’ So all the things that are funny are really important to entrances and cues being very specifically timed, so it’s been a really challenging piece of work for our students which was part of the reason I selected it.”

Sophomore Lydia Thiems played Belinda, and enjoyed stretching her limits to play a character in a comedy.

“Acting in a comedy was different from other experiences that I’ve had because I’ve never really acted before,” Thiems said. “I’ve only acted in Mary Poppins and that was completely different from a play because it was a musical so there was singing and dancing.”

The play also starred senior Lorelei Frank and Molly Stout, juniors Caleb Kalahan, Anna Bruss and Thiems, sophomores Joseph Webb and Nick Greenland and freshmen Truman Chandler and Ryan Whaley.

Chandler was new to the drama program, but was comfortable playing the drunk, comedic relief character.

“I’ve always loved making people laugh,” he said. “It was really fun to act drunk and I had never played an old character before this so that was really fun as well.”