Silent Laughter: A play by the University of South Dakota Theatre Department

The clock has just struck 6 p.m. and cast members of “Silent Laughter” begin their daily, physically extensive warm-up which includes stretching, jumping and running soundlessly across the stage in as many different characters as possible.

Mashing up the iconic works of actor Charlie Chaplin and other silent films from the renowned 1920s, the University of South Dakota’s theatre department brings the art of silent acting to the main stage as they present the comedic production “Silent Laughter” Feb. 20-24 at the Wayne S. Knutson Theatre.

After nearly 15 minutes of warming up, the cast — made up of 13 undergraduate students — takes their places and begin rehearsing the two-act play.

Under the direction of graduate student Fred Liebfried, “Silent Laughter” portrays the story of a man, Billy, and his friend, Billy’s Pal, who face tough times until Billy meets Ruth — the love of his life and savior from poverty. The love-struck couple come across an array of characters and must overcome many obstacles, most of which are comedic, if they are to remain happily together.

“We’re emulating a whole other style of art on stage, along with our own style of art, and it’s been daunting,” Liebfried said.

Choosing “Silent Laughter” as his culmination M.F.A project, this will be Liebfried’s final directing endeavor at USD.

Presented with no dialogue, “Silent Laughter” will be the first completely silent play the USD theatre department has produced. The play was produced on Broadway in 2004 and received favorable reviews, which Liebfried said helped him persuade the department to purchase the show.

“It rarely gets produced [at this level] because of the technicalities,” Liebfried said. “But this is a department that I believe can do anything.”

Without any dialogue, the show conveys the story through a series of alternative means, such as emphasis on character’s physical movements, title cards with scripted lines projected on a white screen above the stage and through live organ music performed by graduate student Chris Larson. Larson has composed several of the compositions that accompany the play.

Taking measure to reflect the silent film period as accurately as possible, the costumes and set for the show are being designed in a gray scale format.

“We’re trying to conceal the fact that color exists everywhere, and it’s a unique challenge for the design team to keep everything gray, white and black,” Liebfried said.

Graduate student Tiffany Lent, who is also using the show as her culminating M.F.A project, is the costume designer for “Silent Laughter,” and has been planning the costumes since last summer.

“I’ve spent a lot of hours watching silent films, which doesn’t seem like a big deal, until you have to schedule all the time to do so,” Lent said jokingly.

Because color has been eliminated from the show, Lent said the process of designing the costumes had to be done a little differently compared to the conventional methods of costume design.

“I’m a big fan of color, and I normally define characters through color, and so for this show it’s mostly been about their silhouette and the brief look of iconic ingénue or the bum look,” Lent said. “It’s also been interesting working with a script that doesn’t have any dialogue,” something she says can provide valuable insight on what a character is supposed to look like.

The cast of “Silent Laughter” said multiple times character development is usually initially drawn from dialogue, one aspect that sets this piece apart from anything they have ever done.

“All of the emotion often found in scripted lines has to be made up in physically acting the character’s feelings,” cast member Jordan Mitchell said.

In order to better prepare for the undertaking of assuming characters who do not speak, the cast took part in mime and combat courses, two major elements of this slapstick comedy production often associated with silent films.

“(“Silent Laughter”) is a complete shout-out to the silent film era, and it’s been a lot of fun embodying silent film comedic characters,” Brian Muldoon, who plays the character of Billy said. “It’s really awesome and really cool that we can bring something that’s so memorable to the stage here.”

With nearly every scene containing some sort of comic relief, the precision of every movement has been constantly refined until the actors have mastered every move. Without this timing, Liebfried said the comedy the show possesses does not really take full effect.

“There’s a lot of physical comedy and it’s really interesting to use that kind of style of comedy and technique with theater,” Emily Dorsett, playing the role of Ruth said. “It’s really neat to see the transition from a play into a silent play.”

For every cast member, this is the first time performing a show with so much intense physical comedy — one of the reasons they say got them interested in trying out.

“It’s very unique with a lot of improvisation,” cast member Tony Garcia said. “It’s controlled chaos all the time and it’s so much fun.”

Liebfried described each scene as “very funny,” with some sort of combat, flying, rolling or pie-fighting action going on. Having directed plays for 30 years, he said physical comedy has always intrigued him and he’s never seen a play quite like this one.

“There’s a lot of classy-comic business in this show and I think it’s a real treat for the audience to see something like this,” Liebfried said. “I chose a project in which I could guarantee this: You’ll at least chuckle during the whole thing if you go.”

Finishing a nearly three-hour rehearsal, the cast and crew of “Silent Laughter” collapse on stage, waiting to hear notes and comments from their director. Upon giving a few points of advice, Liebfried enthusiastically and joyfully proclaims to his cast, “I officially declare us ready.”