Hilarity Ensues Onstage and Behind the Scenes in NOISES OFF

San Francisco Playhouse (Bill English, Artistic Director; Susi Damilano, Producing Director) continues its 14th season of transformation with Noises Off by Michael Frayn, a play some have hailed as the greatest farce ever written.

Called the "funniest play written in my lifetime" by former New York Times critic Frank Rich, Noises Off is a dexterously-realized comedy about putting on a comedy. A rollicking backstage farce about a second-rate theatrical troupe, the play combines slapstick, a British sex comedy, and non-stop hilarity from a manic menagerie of itinerant actors rehearsing a flop called "Nothing On". Doors slamming, on- and off-stage intrigue, and an errant herring all figure in the plot of this uproarious and classically-comic play.

In the first act of Noises Off, Opening Night is just hours away, and the hapless cast of "Nothing On" struggles to complete a dress rehearsal of their ill-fated play. In the second act, the audience is transported backstage as the set revolves and reveals a cast on the verge of disaster, as trysts and betrayals send the production into chaos. The final act returns to the company for their final performance. With lines being forgotten, love triangles unraveling and sardines flying everywhere, it is complete pandemonium.

Noises Off premiered on Broadway in 1983 and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Play. The idea for the play came to Frayn after he was inspired by a performance of a farce while watching in the wings. According to Frayn, "What I saw backstage was actually funnier than what was onstage." Noises Off was an immediate hit and has been wildly popular ever since.

"In these changing times, nothing seemed more perfect than putting up a show whose sole purpose is to encourage us to laugh at our human foibles," said director and Playhouse co-founder Susi Damilano. "Noises Off is a true classic that reaches comedic heights rarely achieved in the thirty-plus years since it was written."
The cast will feature San Francisco favorites Greg Ayers, Richard Louis James, Monique Hafen*, Monica Ho, Craig Marker*, Johnny Moreno*, Kimberly Richards*, Patrick Russell*, and Nanci Zoppi*.

San Francisco Playhouse's production of Noises Off is made possible by Producers David and Colleen Leof; Associate Producers Muffy Barkocy & John Merlino, Bruce Colman, Karen & David Crommie; and Artistic Underwriters Cynnie Anderson, Kevin Gahagan, Carol & Duff Kurland, and Ursula Schorn.

Susi Damilano (Director) is co-founder and Producing Director of the San Francisco Playhouse. Directing credits include Playhouse productions of She Loves Me, Stage Kiss**, Company, Stupid f-ing Bird, Into the Woods, A Behanding in Spokane, Den of Thieves and Wirehead** ; the West Coast Premieres of Honey Brown Eyes**, Dead Man's Cell Phone, Coronado, The Mystery Plays and Roulette and the world premieres of Steven Dietz' On Clover Road, Rhett Rossi's From Red to Black and Daniel Heath's Seven Days in the Sandbox Series. She is a five-time recipient of the Bay Area Theatre Critic Circle (BATCC) award for Best Female Performance in Abigail's Party, Harper Regan, Bug, Six Degrees of Separation, and Reckless. At The Playhouse she has performed leading roles in Tree, Bauer, Abigail's Party, Harper Regan, Coraline, Slasher, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Landscape of the Body, First Person Shooter, Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, The Crucible, Kimberly Akimbo, Our Town and The Smell of the Kill. (**nominated for BATCC Directing award.)

Michael Frayn (Playwright) has written sixteen plays, and several of them have been produced in New York, including Noises Off, Copenhagen, Benefactors, and Democracy. Noises Off, first produced on Broadway in 1983, was revived in 2001. Copenhagen, in 2000, won a Tony, together with Tony Awards for Best Director (Michael Blakemore) and Best Featured Actress (Blair Brown). He has also translated for the theatre, mostly Chekhov and other plays from the Russian, and adapted Chekhov's first, untitled play as Wild Honey. He has written a number of screenplays, including Clockwise, starring John Cleese, and First and Last, which won an International Emmy. His books are published in New York by Holt Metropolitan. His eleven novels include The Tin Men, Towards the End of the Morning, Headlong, Spies, and most recently Skios. He has also published two works of philosophy, Constructions and The Human Touch; and a memoir, My Father's Fortune.

Founded in 2003, San Francisco Playhouse is the only mid-sized professional venue in downtown San Francisco-an intimate alternative to the larger, more traditional Union Square theater fare. Presenting a diverse range of plays and musicals, San Francisco Playhouse produces new works as well as re-imagined classics, "making the edgy accessible and the traditional edgy." And with its bold Sandbox Series, dedicated to nurturing World Premieres, The Playhouse has become a significant player in developing new works as well. San Francisco Playhouse is committed to providing a creative home and inspiring environment where actors, directors, writers, designers, and theater lovers converge to create and experience dramatic works that celebrate the human spirit.

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