It’s that time of the year again for the SCN Winter Play. This year’s production is “Noises Off”. Tickets to “Noises Off” are $5 for students and $7 for adults on the SCN Theater website. The play will run from Jan. 27-29, at 7:30 p.m. in the SCN auditorium.

“Noises Off” is a three-act comedic farce directed by Ryan Colton. Featuring nine students, the story is about a stage crew putting on a play, but the characters portrayed are hopelessly inept, and completely unprepared for the play they are staging. 

“Noises Off” is a “play within a play,” said Jaxson Mitchell, sophomore who is playing Freddie Fellowes. 

He also said the production was unlike anything he’s acted in before, calling it “extremely unique.”

 “By the third act everything kinda falls apart and it goes crazy,” Mitchell said of the plot. “It’s really fun; it’s really different.” 

The set used for the play is also unlike those used in most performances, and is extensive in terms of set design and length. 

“For the first act, the set’s how it normally would be. But for the second act, you turn the whole set around,” said Mitchell. “You get to see what’s going on backstage while onstage.”

Set designers and the tech crew also have to work to create the set within the weeks leading up to the play for the actors to have adequate time to rehearse with it.

“It’s a lot of work with the double-sided-set, there’s an upstairs and everything,” said Alex Kosson, sophomore who is playing Brooke Ashton. 

It’s not just the set, but also the comedic elements, that make “Noises Off” unique.

“It’s a lot of physical comedy, a lot of people falling downstairs,” said Kosson.  “All of Act 2, there’s no talking, really.”

This act in particular is unique to Mitchell as well.

“It’s a really cool dynamic of lines and pantomiming and faking actions,” he said of Act 2.

Preparation for the play is quite difficult, according to the actors. 

“Memorization is obviously a big thing,” said Mitchell. “Then it becomes a matter of just doing it over and over again and trying to balance not getting too stressed, but still having fun,” he explained.

The actors also support each other as they collectively prepare for showtime.

“We have ASDs, Assistant Student Directors, that run lines with us,” said Kosson. “Or [the cast] just runs lines on a call together.”

The plays for the 2021-22 school year have followed a more comedic theme than last year.

“This year’s been more comedies, which we usually do, but last year was more murder mystery, that kinda thing, ” said Kosson, referring to the plays “Vintage Hitchcock: A Live Radio Play” and “Clue” that were performed during the 2020-21 school year.

She encourages people to come see the play, the result of many people’s hard work. “The actors, the crew, even the teachers, it’s a lot of stress, but it’s all really fun in the end,” Kosson said. “Especially this year, with all the comedy. We laugh through rehearsal.”