Bakersfield College Theater Program Presents "Noises Off"

02/08/23
theater student getting ready for play

Wednesday, February 8, 2023

Bakersfield College's Theater Program announced today the details of their first production for the Spring semester, as BC Theatre Professor Cody Ganger will direct BC students in Noises Off, the timeless classic by Michael Frayn that has been called “the funniest farce ever written” by the New York Post. This hilarious play will be performed March 2-5 in the Indoor Theatre, part of the Edward Simonsen Performing Arts Center at Bakersfield College.

“Noises Off" has everything you could want in a comedy! It features zany characters, insane physical stunts, and hilarious sight gags. I think almost every director has Noises Off on their directing wish list, so I'm really excited to bring it to the BC stage with an outrageously talented group of BC students,” says Ganger. “It's also the perfect show for our beautiful Indoor Theatre with its impressive set. Very few theaters are equipped to handle a fully rotating two-story set, so we are making full use of the BC facilities. It's going to be a must-see show!”

With only hours to go before opening night, the cast and crew of “Nothing On” just can't seem to get anything right. Despite their best efforts to ruin it all, the ragtag bunch makes it through their final rehearsal - barely. But as time goes on, pandemonium takes over, and axe-wielding co-stars, drunken cast members, and misplaced sardines take center stage. Noises Off has been called the “funniest farce ever written,” and truly puts to the test the old saying, “the show must go on.”

A full performance schedule is listed below. 

Michael Frayn (Playwright) was born in London in 1933. He began his career as a reporter for The Guardian and later The Observer. After leaving The Observer he continued to write as a columnist as well as publishing novels and plays for television and stage. His plays for stage include: Copenhagen,After Life, The Two of Us, Alphabetical Order, Donkeys' Years, Clouds, Balmoral (Liberty Hall), Make and Break, Noises Off, Benefactors, Alarms and Excursions, Look Look, Here and Make and Break. Other translations include: four full-length Chekhov plays - The Cherry Orchard, Three Sisters, The Seagull and Uncle Vanya and four one-act plays - The Evils of Tobacco, Swan Song, The Bear and The Proposal. Mr. Frayn is married to the biographer and critic Claire Tomalin.

Cody Ganger (Director) is a Professor in the Theatre Department at Bakersfield College where she has taught for 6 years. She has degrees from UC Davis and CSU Bakersfield, where her studies focused on literature, theatre, and Shakespeare Studies. She directs and acts regularly in the Bakersfield community, recently appearing as Nora in A Doll's House at Star's Playhouse. At BC, she is a Coordinator for the Peg Pauly High School Shakespeare Festival and has directed multiple department productions, including A Midsummer Night's Dream, The House of Bernarda Alba, and Love's Labour's Lost.