AMBOY – What could go wrong?

The Amboy High School Drama Department has the answer, everything, in its fall play, “The Play That Goes Wrong,” which will take the stage at 7 p.m. Friday, Nov. 1 and Saturday, Nov. 2, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 3 in the Amboy High School auditorium.

“The whole point of the play is we’re playing actors who are putting on a play. The whole idea is everything is going wrong,” said sophomore student-actress Jay Lauzon. “I like that about it because it’s different than a normal play. Usually, you want everything to go perfectly, but we’re literally intending to mess up. I feel it makes it more intriguing than any of our previous productions. There are still some things we have to get right, but if you mess up a line or you trip or you drop something, as long as it’s not super important, it’ll just go along with the show.

“I feel like our theatre department is full of people who all generally associate with each other. Everyone is nice and welcoming. We get along and we’re having fun. No one is really judgmental; everyone is accepting. Mr. Kerley and Mrs. Cleary are fun to work with. They’re just great people.”

Lauzon, who was in last year’s play “I Only Have Fangs for You” and has been involved in four productions on whether on stage or part of the behind-the-scenes crew will play Rachel who is an actress playing the character Mary Colleymore.

The fictional actors and actresses, like Rachel, are part of the Cornley Drama Society who are putting on a play called “The Murder at Haversham Manor.”

The Amboy performers have practiced being other actors taking the stage for a play since Tuesday, Sept. 3.

“The student-performers have been doing great. They’re really open to suggestions and trying harder. This group is coachable,” said co-play director and AHS art teacher, Deb Cleary. “Avery Kerley and I chose the play together, but he showed it to me. When he suggested it, I looked for the high school edition. I found it and we decided that’s the play we wanted to do.”

Cleary, who has been the high school art teacher for 28 years also taught art for junior high classes for a number of years. Kerley, a music teacher who has been with Amboy Junior High for seven years, was in a classroom next to Clearly.

During their time as neighbors, they began throwing ideas back and forth and have since produced five plays together, while Cleary has directed 10 plays for AHS.

“This is one of the most technically difficult plays we’ve tried to do,” Kerley said. “In terms of lines and scripts there has been some difficult ones, but what’s really hard about this one is they need to know their lines super early so we can practice all of the mistakes and make them consistent. In the second act, the stage itself falls apart. It comes to pieces on the stage. We’ve been talking about how we were going to design the set pieces and how we were going to put things together for over a year. We are using a lot of fishing line and magnets.

“It’s very technically challenging because our ensemble members, in addition to acting as the stage crew of the Cornley Drama Society, they’re also the ones who are triggering the stage effects by pulling pins, cutting fishing line, and pushing magnets out of the way.”

With all cast and crew knowing timing is key, they mesmerized their lines early so they could focus on making sure the stage collapses, lines are said incorrectly, and props are misused…correctly.

“This is so much fun. I love going to play practice,” said AHS freshman Abigail Fox, who is playing Chris, the fictional play’s director, who acts as Inspector Carter. “It’s fun talking to everyone involved. We help each other out. I am proud of myself for having a main role as a freshman. I’m excited to be a lead role and grateful for the opportunity. I am a little nervous because it is nerve racking, but I think we will all do a great job.

“This play is really fun. It has a really big plot twist and is exciting.”

Also involved in the play are AHS’ Natalie Pratt, Kai Vaupel-Taylor, Cooper Whitney, Logan Ketchum, Aaron Costner, Brooklyn Strub, Carli Grennan, Jayce Hermeyer, Charlotte Patterson, Vee Shepard, and Tinley Whitney.