THEATER PEOPLE IN THEIR NATURAL HABITAT. The cast of the Menomonie Theater Guild’s production of Noises Off, shown here in a moment of pure hilarity. The show runs April 23 through May 2.

The rehearsal for the Menomonie Theater Guild’s production of Noises Off! stops for a moment. Actor Kevin Drazakowski, also a UW-Stout professor, has just missed a cue, but he swears it wasn’t his fault. “I saw that kiss twice,” he says. Director Blaine Halverson, who is filling in for a sick cast member this night, explains. “I was just feeling a bit frisky,” he says. “That’s theater people for you.”

Noises Off! is all about theater people. The farce follows a fictional acting troupe through their production of the sex-romp comedy Nothing On. Act One begins at midnight the day before the opening performance, and the troupe is nowhere near ready. The set is breaking, lines are being flubbed and personalities are butting heads. By the time an actual production rolls around in Act Two, things aren’t going any better. What follows is a madcap slapstick routine involving flowers, costumes, eight doors (and a window), shoelaces, an axe, and alcohol, resulting in perfectly timed chaos that would leave the Three Stooges green with envy.

If you’ve been in a play before, the backstage shushing and pantomime acting will ring true. If you haven’t, here’s your chance to literally get backstage as MTG’s set designer has created a stage that rotates 180 degrees in order to put the audience more fully in the mayhem.

Somehow, though, the fictional performers muddle through. “They’re so inept,” says Halverson, “yet they’re somehow so adept at what they’re doing. It’s that irony that makes it funny for the audience.” For Bob Butterfield, a library assistant at UWEC who plays three characters in Noises Off!, the play is about physical comedy, but it also has “a lot of substance. It’s talking about the theater world.”

Noises Off! can be seen April 23-24, 29-30 and May 1 at 7:30pm and April 25 and May 2 at 2pm at the Mabel Tainter. Tickets are $15 for adults, $13 for seniors/students and can be purchased by contacting the box office at 235-0001. Tickets for opening night are $13.