"Look Who’s Laughing" Fun For All, Actors Say

Members of the cast of the Archbold High School play, “Look Who’s Laughing,” on the AHS stage. Front: Mylee McQuillin. Second row: Jennifer Lindsay, Bailey Mayer, Jamie Seel, Jarrett Yoder. Back row: Jonathan Manahan, Caleb Wyse, Meg Short, Eliot Nofziger, John Hartman. The students perform the play this weekend.–photo by David Pugh Looking for a good stage comedy?

The student cast of Archbold High School’s production of “Look Who’s Laughing” could be the answer.

“You will laugh,” a cast member said.

Jennifer Lindsay, a junior, described the plot of the show: “A man named Henry has a very bad temper.”

“And it’s driving his family insane,” said Caleb Wyse, a freshman.

“Then I, his best friend, pop up out of nowhere for a visit and make a bet that he can’t hold his temper for a week,” John Hartman, a sophomore, said.

“During this time, his daughter is proposed to, and his rival in business is trying to overtake him in his job,” said Jonathan Manahan, a sophomore.

Basically everything goes wrong, said Bailey Mayer, a junior.

“The bet’s almost over, when– dot, dot, dot,” said Jarrett Yoder, a junior, verbally indicating and ellipsis.

Big Grouch

Eliot Nofziger, a senior who plays Henry Crocker, the central character, said Crocker “is basically a big grouch. He gets up in everybody’s face, and calls people a lot of names.”

Nofziger said he has to “go as far as I can with his temper.”

Henry yells at people so much, “plenty of times, when I’m done with play practice, my throat is sore.”

But once Jed Tracey, Hartman’s character, and Crocker establish the bet, Nofziger must show his character getting mad, then fighting to suppress his anger.

“I have to continually be in character,” Nofziger said.

The funniest character in the play is Grandmother, played by Lindsay.

“She can’t hear anything, because she lost her hearing aid,” Lindsay said. The end result is that Grandma misunderstands people, or mixes up what people try to tell her.

Understand

Cast members said the play, set in the 1930s, is fun for all ages.

Kids will understand it “if we do it right,” said Hartman.

“Let’s face it,” Yoder said to his fellow actors. “Not everyone has every single line memorized.”

Lindsay said the lines are coming along.

Yoder said AHS plays “usually come together in the last week.”

He said the group could make it “if we strive for success.”

“I personally think this is a group where everybody loves what they’re doing, and so we’re all going to focus and put in everything we have, because it’s a hobby of ours,” said Bailey Mayer, a junior.

“We’re just a bunch of crazy kids messing around,” Hartman said.

AHS presents “Look Who’s Laughing” Friday and Saturday, Nov. 6-7, at 7:30 pm, and Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2:30 pm.