Written by Susan Turlish, co-directed by Gabriel Bermudez and Luis Montalvo, Lafferty’s Wake is a two-hour farce comedy that showed December 1st-2nd in the Black Box. Lafferty’s Wake is about the wake of Charlie Lafferty. The majority of the show follows the jokes, games, stories, and monologues that detail the vibrant life Lafferty lived, all of which are performed by close friends and family, including: his kindly daughter, his bumbling son-in-law, the smooth-talking bartender, and the parish priest.

The kicker for the show, however, was the involvement of the audience. With a large selection of improv, performed by the talented actors of OCSA, the audience were prodded for questions on how they knew Lafferty or how they cared about him. Being put on the spot, the actors bring a lot to the table by making callbacks to earlier jokes from the audience and incorporating it into the show. One particular instance of “pass the potato” was particularly memorable, as whoever was “stuck” with the potato was made to play a game by Rory Finn, the bartender of the pub.

Bella Chukwu performed as Maggie Clancy, Trevor Doty as the understudy, Kylie Figueroa as Charlie Lafferty, Hailey Freeman as the Swing Messenger, Luke Gabriel as Rory Finn, Grace Thomas as Molly Greaney, Samuel Wetherbee as Father Pettigrew, and Mimi Zeigler as Kathleen Lafferty. All of the actors spoke with joy and love towards the show, each of them incredibly thankful to be part of the team.

After an interview with the full production team, Luis Montalvo, when asked about opening night said: “Oh, it was wonderful, it was spectacular. I am so proud of the actors, they all worked so hard on this. Everyone was laughing!” Samuel Weatherbee spoke on the audience itself; “For starters, the audience was amazing, everyone was really nice; the improv prompts were very nice. Just the energy from the audience is unmatched.” Luke Gabriel, on the show itself: “I think it’s extremely well written; the jokes and the timing, the way certain topics are discussed I think is very well done.”

The show sold out both nights, and nearly every audience member left with a bright smile. Be sure to congratulate the actors and directors!