Photo by Brian Wise

On Nov. 13-16, CMU’s theatre department performed Noel Coward’s Hay Fever at the Moss Performing Arts Center. The play, written in the 1920s, focuses around an English upper-class family.

Known for their outlandish dramatics, they invite their own romantic interests over for the weekend on the English countryside.

Left to right: Hannah Fisher as Sorel Bliss, Colton Pratt as David Bliss, Rachel Boyce as Judith Bliss and Ethan Knowles as Simon Bliss.

“It is upper class British society,” Director Tim Pinnow said, “So that means that there is a very specific way that people held themselves in terms of their posture. The manners were different, the dialect is obviously different. They have to do a standard British dialect. Those were the really major difficulties for the actors because they have to do something completely foreign to them and make it look like they have been doing it all of their lives.”

Changing the way one walks and talks can be an almost impossible task. Ethan Knowles, however, who played Simon Bliss, explained his experience getting into character as something exciting.

“It’s really fun,” Knowles said. “When you use those accents, they sort of give themselves to the character when you’re reading the script, and it makes it so much easier.”

Although most of the major theatre productions for the semester are over, Pinnow opens an invitation for students and community members to not only attend next year’s plays, but also audition for them.

“Auditions are open to anybody, not just CMU students. We audition at the beginning of every semester,” Pinnow said.

The theatre’s upcoming productions include “Legally Blonde the Musical” and “Eurydice.”