Marquette Academy opens its production of “Knock Knock” this weekend at the Great Hall, marking Jake Jakielski’s directorial debut.
The production opens at 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, April 17-18, at The Great Hall, 910 Columbus St., Ottawa. Tickets cost $8 for adults, $6 for high school students, grade school students and senior citizens.
Jakielski chose the production because of its comedic timing and structure.
“My co-director had seen it before,” Jakielski said. “And she thought that it’d be a great show for the kids to learn the ins and outs of acting.”
The production, written by Jason Pizzarello and Kathryn Funkhouser, follows two package delivery workers, according to Jakielski. Logan is a veteran carrier burnt out by the job. Sam is a bright-eyed newbie who thinks she’ll change the world one package at a time.
At every household, they meet increasingly weird characters, Jakielski said.
The goal of the production is to make sure the kids feel uplifted and have fun with the material while enjoying their experience, Jakielski said.
“One of the characters has a line that says souls are like feathers or marshmallows, they don’t get crushed, just dropped sometimes and I think the message is just hang in there,” he said.
His hope for the audience is simple — laughter and enjoyment.
“It’s very much a low-stakes comedy and kind of just a window into the everyday kind of absurdity,” he said.