Chagrin Valley Little Theatre

Laughing Stock by Charles Morey

Performance Dates & Tickets

About the Play

The craziness of summer stock is tackled in the tradition of "Noises Off"...

Gordon Page, a middle-aged artistic director of a summer stock barn theater in New Hampshire, embarks on the theater’s 67th season taking the random and comical cast and crew on a wild ride that includes giant mosquitoes, eccentric directors and a very limited budget while the group gallantly attempts to keep the ship from sinking. Laughing Stock gives audiences a backstage look at a ragtag troupe of actors and their backstage mischief as they attempt to stage three repertory productions. Hamlet, Charley’s Aunt and Dracula have never been performed like this! This show is a hectic and hilarious testament to theaters everywhere that never seem to have enough time, staff, money or talent to pull off the show, yet in the end, everyone gives it their all. It captures the magic of theater, showing how the art form tells a story while at the same time creating a temporary family amongst the cast and crew no matter where the show goes on.

Laughing Stock had its world premiere at the Pioneer Theatre Company on February 7, 2001. It was nominated for the 2001 American Theatre Critic’s Association New Play Award, and won the Best Original Play Award from the New Hampshire Theatre Association in 2004. Of Laughing Stock, Charles Morey says, “Everyone in the theater has their own “Playhouse.” The place where there was never enough of anything . . . where sometimes the doors fell off their hinges and the sound cues ran backwards, but where you gave yourself over wholly to the making of plays. . . . It is those places, and especially those people, this play celebrates.”

CVLT farce stocks up on laughter
by Bob Ableman
The Chagrin Valley Times, January 17 2008

The Chagrin Valley Little Theater begins the new year with an old, reliable formula for fun, the backstage farce. In the tradition of "Noises Off," "Lend Me a Tenor" and "Moon Over Buffalo," Charles Morey's  "Laughing Stock" places audience members in direct contact with the chaos that occurs behind the stage curtain in the process of putting on a play.

In the case of "Laughing Stock," three plays are being performed by a troupe of well-intended professional actors for an understaffed, under funded and ill-equipped summer-stock repertory company in humid New England. Unlike most backstage farces, which poke fun at performers and can be cruel to their artsy craft, this show is a testament to local theaters everywhere that never seem to have enough of anything to actually pull off the show  - but put in a valiant effort nonetheless.

In fact, "Laughing Stock" is the playwright’s love letter to the world of theater. Like most love letters, this play frequently flies into effusive expression, overly romanticized imagery and corny sentimentality. Like most love letters, this play is chock full of self-references that are often obscure to outsiders. At one point, an actor confesses, "You have to be on stage to really understand." This play is also uneven, jumping from serious reflections on summer stock to silly slapstick gags to earnest renditions of dramatic scenes to side stories about the actors themselves. We see one play partially performed in its rehearsal stage, another as a reverse angle, time lapsed rendition and a third - a homegrown, comedy-of-errors version of "Dracula" - in its entirety.

Fortunately, "Laughing Stock" is very, very funny, and this production manages to be fluid and well-paced thanks to the efforts of director Bob McCoy. He has an excellent comic instinct and knows not to go for the laughs in a farce. Instead, he lets the laughs develop organically from the bizarre circumstances, well-staged mishaps and inside jokes the playwright provides.

When one of the characters suggests, "I hate farce," the actors allow the line to merely linger rather than draw attention to it. As a result, the laughs are honest, deep belly laughs, which come in rapid succession.

"Laughing Stock" also serves up a roster of rich, interesting characters that are easy to adore but can lapse into stereotypes if mishandled. A very talented and disciplined cast, led by a nicely understated Eric Oswald as the owner of the theater company, keeps these characters from becoming too broadly drawn.

Adam Young, as an anal-retentive theater manager, Michael Rogan, as a jaded professional, Miranda Fantz, as a new-age actress, Steve Ryan, as a forgetful veteran performer, and Ben Walters, as a method actor in constant need of motivation, deliver exceptional performances.

The rest of the cast, including Kenny Fadeley, Linda Ryan, Don Bernardo, Nick Hahn and Leah McCoy, nicely complement these performances with fine work of their own.   Denise Bernstein is adorable as the stage manager and the owner's ex-wife. However, her over exuberance could be brought down a notch, given the laid-back nature of her counterpart’s performance. Christine Bohn could use a second gear as the dysfunctional director of one of the troupe’s productions. Despite a surprising lack of detail in Edmond Wolff’s set, it nicely contains all the action, sight gags and theatrical antics this show has to offer.

"Laughing Stock" delivers a very fun evening’s entertainment. The silliness persists until Feb. 2 in Chagrin Falls.

About the Playwright

Charles Morey has been the Artistic Director of the Pioneer Theatre Company, the professional theater in residence at the University of Utah, since 1984. While there, he has directed more than 60 productions. Morey has directed at various institutions including New York’s Ark Theatre Company and Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York City, in addition to numerous theaters throughout the country such as the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis, Meadow Brook Theatre, American Stage, PCPA Theatrefest and Utah Shakespearean Festival. He has written adaptations of five 19th-century classic novels in addition to his two original works, Laughing Stock and Dumas’ Camille.