INSTITUTE, W.Va. — West Virginia State University (WVSU) will present a student production of the fast-paced comedy “Noises Off” Thursday, April 23, and Friday, April 24.

Both performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. in the Fannin S. Belcher Theatre of the Davis Fine Arts Building (building No. 8 on the campus map). 

The show is free to WVSU students, faculty and staff. Tickets for the general public are $10 and may be purchased at the door, or in advance at https://connect.wvstateu.edu/theatre.

“Noises Off” is a fast-paced British farce by Michael Fray that takes audiences behind the scenes of a struggling theater production. The play follows a troupe performing the mediocre farce Nothing On, shown across three acts from different perspectives.

Act One features a chaotic dress rehearsal filled with missed cues, forgotten lines, and rising tension. Act Two shifts backstage during a performance, where personal conflicts and exhaustion threaten to derail the show. By Act Three, everything falls apart, with chaos spilling onto the stage as actors improvise to survive.

The comedy comes from the contrast between the polished performance the audience sees and the disorder behind the scenes, highlighting the fragile line between order and chaos in live theater.

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– WVSU –