Carey, Prosky, Schnetzer, et al. Set for Arena Stage’s Noises Off

Helen Carey, James Gale, Robert Prosky, Jay Russell, and Stephen Schnetzer will headline the Arena Stage production of Michael Frayn’s comedy Noises Off, December 15-January 28. Directed by Jonathan Munby, the show will officially open on December 21.

Also in the cast are Lynda Ferguson, Susan Lynskey, Amelia McClain, and Stephen F. Schmidt. The production team includes Alexander Dodge (sets), Linda Cho (costumes), Michael Gilliam (lighting), Lindsay Jones (original music and sound), Jon Aithchison (hair and makeup), and Robb Hunter (fight choreography). Munby has worked extensively in England, where his credits include The Canterbury Tales, Swan, and A Number.

First produced in London in 1982 and then on Broadway in 1984, where it won the Tony Award for Best Play, Noises Off looks at the backstage and onstage goings-on as a third-rate British acting troupe desperately tries to stage a third-rate British farce titled Nothing On. Frayn’s other plays include Benefactors, Copenhagen, and Democracy.

Carey, who will play Dotty Otley, received a Tony nomination for London Assurance and has appeared in such Washington D.C. productions as The Persians and Crime and Punishment. Gale, who will play Lloyd Dallas, has been seen on the New York stage in Major Barbara, Engaged, and The Skin Game. Prosky, who will play Selsdon Mowbray, is a two-time Tony nominee for A Walk in the Woods and Glengarry Glen Ross; he received an Emmy Award for his work on the television series Hill Street Blues.

Russell, who will play Tim Allgood, has appeared in New York productions of The Play What I Wrote, The Normal Heart, and An Evening with Burton and Russell. Schnetzer, who will play Garry Lejune, has starred on Broadway and regionally in such plays as The Lisbon Traviata and The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? He is best known for his work on the daytime TV dramas Another World, Guiding Light, and One Life to Live.