‘Noises Off’ is McMahon’s Drama Group directorial debut

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Michael Frayn penned the farce "Noises Off."

Updated: March 4, 2012 8:06AM

If Tyler McMahon isn’t the busiest person in Chicago-area community theater, he has to be close to it.

McMahon is a multitalented stage veteran at the ripe old age of 26.

Besides working at the family business and going to Kankakee Community College, he is active in plays year-round, often in more than one show in the same week.

“I started acting when I was 9,” he said. “My first show was in ‘Gypsy’ in Kankakee as a newsy.

“No other boys had auditioned, and I was from a family of four sisters and a brother and not into sports, so it exposed me to something new.

“Now 15 years later I’m still at it.”

And after some 40 or 50 shows from Kankakee and New Lenox to Hammond, Ind., McMahon is making his Drama Group directing debut.

He is directing the comedy “Noises Off,” which runs for two weekends beginning on Feb. 3.

The previous week, between “Noises Off” rehearsals, he performed in another show.

McMahon is the type of dedicated thespian who makes the Drama Group one of busiest community theaters anywhere, putting on six major shows a year.

“It’s one of the few organizations that regularly does all the three types — dramas, comedies and musicals,” he said. “I like them all.”

“Noises Off” is a good test for a young director. But McMahon said he knows what he is getting into with the production.

He’s seen the show recently on the professional stage at Theater at the Center in Munster, Ind., and assisted directing it for the Kankakee Valley Theater Association.

“This is a show that theater people have a love-hate relationship with,” he said.

“They love the comedy and characters, but they hate that it’s so much work. The show’s timing has to be perfect.”

That’s because “Noises Off” is a farce, which means there is rapid-fire dialogue. And typically there are mistaken identities and characters coming in and out of slamming doors.

In fact, as McMahon said, “It’s the farce of all farces — a farce within a farce, within a farce. There’s so much energy you almost have to choreograph it all.”

“Noises Off” premiered in London in 1982 to rave reviews and awards.

Playwright Michael Frayn conceived the idea from standing in the wings of a farce in which Lynn Redgrave and others performed. He said he thought the play was funnier from behind the scenes than from in front of the stage.

So he wrote “Noises Off” from that standpoint, using for its title the theatrical phrase for all the sounds that actors and directors hear offstage.

To pull off this Drama Group production at the intimate Studio Theatre, McMahon has cast what he calls a “perfect mix of veterans and newcomers; their personality traits match the characters.”

The story involves a struggling theater troupe’s efforts to perform a comedy through three stages: dress rehearsal and then shows early and late in the tour.

The cast often flubs and misses cues. There are backstage rivalries and hanky-panky.

Among the Drama Group cast are Deb Brunette-Cairns as Dotty, a has-been actress who barely remembers her lines.

Jessica Carpenter portrays Brooke, an inexperienced actress suspected of being a porn star.

Yvonne Ambrose plays Belinda, one of the few reliable actresses.

Kate Messier plays Poppy, one-third of the cast’s love triangle.

Among the men is Nathan Krug playing Lloyd Dallas, the director of the play within-a-play.

Jeffrey Pastiak portrays Garry, an inarticulate actor, and Andy Leahy is Frederick, a bundle of nerves.

A sure scene-stopper should be Drama Group stalwart Tony Labriola playing Selsdon, an elderly alcoholic actor who hides his bottles onstage.

McMahon said he doesn’t need such props.

“Theater keeps me sane,” he said. “This is my social life. My friends are all other thespians, and I make new friends with each show.”

He said he simply loves theater noises — on and off the stage.

Don Snider is a local free-lance writer.

THE CAST

The Drama Group’s production of “Noises Off” features the following cast.

Belinda: Yvonne Ambrose, of Frankfort

Brooke: Jessica Carpenter, of Chicago

Dotty: Deb Brunette-Cairns, of Park Forest

Frederick: Andy Leahy, of Chicago Heights

Garry: Jeffrey Pastiak, of Frankfort

Lloyd: Nathan Krug, of Crete

Poppy: Kate Messier, of Oak Forest

Selsdon: Tony Labriola, of Olympia Fields

Tim: Eric Lee, of Steger