Experience Luigi Pirandello’s intriguing show, “Six Characters in Search of an Author” directed by professor Christine Cummings on behalf of the Mt. SAC Theater department, April 20-22 at the Sophia B. Clarke Theater.

According to the Mt. SAC theater website, the humorous yet unfortunate story introduces six mysterious characters interrupting a group of actors who are rehearsing for a play. These six characters want the director to replace the story to suggest that they are more realistic than the actors.

People of all ages and backgrounds can experience a new twist in theater. Cummings, the director with 15 years of experience, casted both new and skillful actors for the upcoming show this weekend. The performance will manifest a total of 23 actors including three managers, three stage crew members and two student designers. The large production rehearsed tirelessly for three hours, four days a week for seven weeks straight. This unique storyline challenges the audiences to unveil this unconventional piece and decide what is real or an illusion.

Cummings hopes the audience thinks and ponders the questions posed a long time after the curtain falls. She also hopes they enjoy this uncommon method of staging the play, which she hopes will be different than the typical theater they are used to.

“I knew I couldn’t tell this story with traditional conventions of the theater, so my concept is to expose the means of play-making to the audience,” Cummings said. “We are not hiding the backstage area, the set pieces are unfinished and we are using the entire space including the audience, the booth, and lobby as the stage. This is a philosophically complicated show that depicts a play within a play and ask the question, what is real and what is illusion? And calls into question the art form of theater and acting in ways that are fascinating and, at times, troubling, so I wanted the space to represent this idea well.”

“Six Characters in Search of an Author” will be playing this Friday and Saturday at 8 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m. People who are interested in watching the show can visit the Mt. SAC theater website or the box office on campus and buy tickets for $6 with a Mt. SAC ID,  $14 for adults and $10 for seniors and non-Mt. SAC students with a student ID.