While the chilly breeze sets in, the cast of the upcoming play “Mort” are preparing for opening night.
The cast and crew have worked for nearly five weeks to perfect their scenes. The play is based off of Terry Pratchett’s 1987 book by the same name and will follow a personified version of Death, who gains an apprentice, enter a teenage boy, Mort.
The director and assistant director, Matthew Brewbaker and Owen Brightman, have put in effort to get the show where it needs to be, but they also give credit to their cast.
“It’s an incredibly funny play. It’s definitely a comedy,” Brewbaker said. “We’ve got a really large cast and they all have brought so many funny things to that I didn’t expect that weren’t necessarily written that way in the script.”
Both Brewbaker and Brightman acknowledged the excitement they have for the play.
“I’m still cracking up laughing watching it and I’ve probably seen the show over a dozen times at this point,” Brightman said.
Brewbaker gave credit to the main actor, Zach Douglas, who plays Mort. Douglas worked mostly in musicals and has never had a role as large as the one he will in the upcoming play. Both Brewbaker and Brightman pointed out just how much Douglas has grown throughout the duration of working on “Mort.”
“It’s a very long story, but it’s been amazing to watch,” Brewbaker said.
A University of Iowa third-year student and theater major on the musical track, Douglas has been involved in theater since 2015. Back in July, he performed in a production of “Grease” alongside Chris Irvin, who encouraged him to audition for Mort.
“This is actually my first traditional play that I’ve done in years,” Douglas said. “Everything for the past couple of years has just been musicals, which a lot of the physicality and the acting in general is more exaggerated.”
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While at Kirkwood Community College, Douglas was in a production of “Chicago” alongside friend and current co-star, Reuben Thomas. Thomas plays the role of Ysabell, Death’s daughter and Mort’s love interest.
“When we found out we were going to be in this together, it was so exciting, because I got to work with a really close person,” Douglas said. “There’s required chemistry that we already had.”
Thomas said this is her first time playing a role in a comedy play.
“Playing a character in a comedic show is interesting because you have to play the character like they’re not funny,” Thomas said. “As someone who laughs at things very easily, it’s kind of a difficult hurdle to get over, especially with Zach who’s someone I laugh with all the time.”
Her favorite part of performing in the play is getting to meet people. In the past, she had only performed in school plays, but performing in community theater helped her get to know her fellow castmates.
“We [have] a wide range of ages here, and it’s people that I otherwise wouldn’t have met because we all live different lives.” Thomas said.
Douglas hoped that the audience would enjoy the play. The James Theater will host opening night on Oct.7, and the play runs through Oct. 11.
“I just want people to have fun and be able to immerse themselves in the show,” Douglas said. “Because at the end of the day, that’s what acting is, is telling a story to the audience.”