NOISES OFF Starts April 21 at A Noise Within

A Noise Within (ANW), the acclaimed classical repertory theatre company, is bringing back its smash hit production of Michael Frayn's hilarious NOISES OFF from Saturday, April 21 to Sunday, May 20, 2018, reviving a critical and audience favorite for all to enjoy. Featuring most of the original A Noise Within cast, Noises Off, directed by Julia Rodriguez-Elliott and Geoff Elliott, pays tribute to the art of theatre-making itself as chaos reigns onstage and off. The production's previous stagings won rave reviews from critics whose praise included "a superb cast hit the banana peel running and never let up" (Los Angeles Times); "hysterical and smart" (LA Magazine); and "Michael Frayn's delightfully complicated British farce could hardly have a better rendition than this" (Backstage).

"Noises Off is truly one of our Signature Productions, with audience members returning to see it two or more times," says Geoff Elliott. Julia Rodriguez-Elliott adds, "Everything about the deft physical and verbal interplay between actors is ideal for A Noise Within's focus on ensemble work."

Frayn's joyfully out-of-control British farce features an under-rehearsed and over-worked cast and crew with a penchant for drama more personal than professional, readying themselves for the world premiere of a new play with the auspicious title Nothing On. As the production progresses, the bumbling cast brings down the house - literally! The cast features Rafael Goldstein* (Tim Algood), Apollo Dukakis* (Selsdon Mowbray), Geoff Elliott* (Lloyd Dallas), Jill Hill* (Belinda Blair), Erika Soto* (Poppy Norton-Taylor), Emily Kosloski* (Brooke Ashton), Jeremy Rabb* (Frederick Fellows), Kasey Mahaffy* (Garry Lejeune), and Deborah Strang* (Dotty Otley).

Scenic Design by Fred Kinney; Costume Design by Angela Balogh Calin†; Lighting Design by Ken Booth; Composer/Sound Design by Jeff Gardner; Stage Manager is Samantha Sintef*; Assistant Stage Manager is Jacob Houser; Wig/Make-Up Design by Klint Flowers; Co-Props Masters are Sydney Russell and Erin Walley. *Member of Actors' Equity Association, the Union of Professional Actors and Stage Managers in the United States; † Designer is represented by United Scenic Artists Local USA-829 of the IATSE

Single ticket prices for Noises Off start at $25.00. Contact the A Noise Within box office in person, via phone at 626-356-3121, or online at www.ANoiseWithin.org for updated pricing and seat availability. A Noise Within will offer student rush tickets, and SundayRush (for May 13 at 7:00pm) for this production. A Pay What You Can performance takes place on Thursday, April 26 at 7:30pm.

A NOISE WITHIN is located on the corner of Foothill Boulevard and Sierra Madre Villa Avenue at 3352 East Foothill Blvd., Pasadena, CA 91107.

About Michael Frayn

Michael Frayn is an English playwright, novelist, and translator who resides outside of London with his wife Claire Tomalin, an English biographer and journalist. He is best known as the playwright of Noises Off (1982), as well as the dramas Copenhagen (1998) and Democracy (2003). His novels, Towards the End of the Morning (1967), Headlong(1999), and Spies (2002), have also received critical acclaim, making Frayn one of the few English language writers to succeed in both drama and prose fiction.

Frayn was born on September 8, 1933 in Mill Hill, London to Thomas Allen Frayn, an asbestos salesman, and Violet Alice Lawson Frayn, a shop assistant. He grew up in Ewell, Surrey, and was educated at the elite Kingston Grammar School until his mother died when he was 12 years old, after which he was transferred to a state school. Later, during his two years of National Service, Frayn learned Russian at the Joint Services School for Linguists. He went on to study philosophy at Emmanuel College in Cambridge and graduated in 1957. Frayn then worked as a reporter and columnist for The Guardianand The Observer, where he established a reputation as a satirist and comic writer and started writing novels.

By 1970, Michael had published three popular novels, The Tin Men, The Russian Interpreter, and A Very Private Life. At first, he struggled to find the same success as a playwright. He wrote many rejected scripts and even produced an evening of his own short plays that was not received well by audience members or critics. However, Frayn kept writing. In 1982, with the publication of Noises Off, Michael Frayn earned his third Evening Standard Award, the oldest theatrical award in the UK, for Best Comedy of the Year. The first two were Alphabetical Order (1972) and Make or Break (1980), both of which are typical English office comedies. Copenhagen (1998) won Frayn his fourth Evening Standard Award for Best Play of the Year in 1998, as well as the 2000 Tony®Award for Best Play. In addition to his extensive playwrighting and fiction career, Michael Frayn is also well known for translating Chekov: he adapted The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, Three Sisters, and The Cherry Orchard. Frayn has also written screenplays for the films Clockwise, starring John Cleese, First and Last, starring Tom Wilkinson, and the TV series Making Faces, starring Eleanor Bron.

Frayn's recent books include his memoir, My Father's Fortune: A Life (2010), which was shortlisted for the 2010 Costa Biography Award and won the 2011 PEN/Ackerley Prize, as well as Skios (2012), a comic novel on a case of mistaken identity.

About Noises Off

Michael Frayn was inspired with the idea for Noises Off in 1970, when he was watching from the wings a performance of the farce The Two of Us, which he had written for Lynn Redgrave and Richard Briters. Frayn said, "It was funnier from behind than in front and I thought that one day I must write a farce from behind." An early one-act version, Exits, was written and performed in 1977 at a fundraising midnight matinee. At the request of his associate, Michael Codron, Frayn expanded this into what would become Noises Off, whose title comes from the theatrical phrase for "sound heard in the wings." The play had its premier at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith, London in 1982, directed by Michael Blakemore and starring Patricia Routledge, Paul Eddington, and Nicky Henson. It opened to universally ecstatic reviews from audiences and critics. The play would go on to win the 1982 Olivier Award for Best Play and the 1982 London Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy and received nominations for the 1984 Tony® Award for Best Play and the 1984 Drama Desk Award for Best Play.

Frayn said: "After the play had opened at the Lyric Hammersmith in 1982, I did a great deal more rewriting, and went on rewriting until Nicky Henson, who was playing Garry, announced on behalf of the cast (rather as Garry himself might have done) that they would learn no further versions. The play transferred to the Savoy Theatre and ran until 1987 with five successive casts. For two of the cast changes I did more rewrites. I also rewrote for the Washington production in 1983, and I rewrote again when this moved to Broadway. When the play was revived at the National Theatre in 2000 I rewrote yet again. Some of the changes were ones that I'd been longing to make myself-there's nothing like having to sit through a play over and over again to make your finger itch for the delete key-while many more changes were suggested by my new director, Jeremy Sams."

Given its widespread popularity among audiences and critics in many different countries, Noises Off has managed to strike a universal chord with its story about actors struggling to put on a perfect show. Frayn said, "I think it's connected to the fear we all have inside ourselves that we might be unable to go on with the performance... We all feel we might break down-and sometimes we do. So when we see it happening to those idiots on the stage in a farce, it's a release of the tension."

About A Noise Within

A Noise Within, which celebrated its 25th Anniversary last season, was called "an oasis for those who love classic stories" by Los Angeles Times, and is a leading regional producer based in Pasadena, CA. ANW's award-winning resident company practices a rotating repertory model at their state-of-the-art, 283-seat performing space. This venue, established in 2011, has allowed ANW to expand its audience, surpassing its previous box office, subscription, and attendance records each year.

In addition to producing world-class performances of classical theatre, the organization runs robust education programs committed to inspiring diverse audiences of all ages. Helmed by Producing Artistic Directors Geoff Elliott and Julia Rodriguez-Elliott, who hold MFAs from San Francisco's American Conservatory Theatre, A Noise Within truly delivers CLASSIC THEATRE, MODERN MAGIC. http://www.anoisewithin.org

Photo by Craig Schwartz

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