Techno music was pumping, actors were dancing and acting goofy.

That was the scene one day last week on the Inglemoor High Si Siverson Little Theater stage. The students were loosening up after a day of classes and preparing for rehearsals of “The Man Who Came to Dinner,” a 1930s-set comedy that opens tonight and will run through Friday and Saturday on campus.

When director Gretchen Stewart entered the room, she rallied her troops and gave a pep talk before the Valhalla Players launched into Act 1, Scene 1 to begin the lengthy rehearsal session.

“Enunciate. Know your lines. Help each other with your cues — it will make them look good and make you look good,” said Stewart, who’s taught drama for two years at Inglemoor and been around the high-school theater scene for many years.

“The fun of live theater is that it’s never the same twice. It’s not like watching a movie, where everything’s going to happen exactly the same every time you watch it,” she told the Reporter during a break. “Broadway changes every night — that’s part of why you’ve got to keep listening; even when you think you’ve got it all, you’ve got to keep listening.”

When the curtain rises for the opening show, the group of 22 actors, plus the stage and technical crews, amassed 50-plus hours of rehearsal time. It’s go time: four shows and tons of zaniness.

The three-act Moss Hart and George S. Kauffman play is set in a small Ohio town in the weeks leading up to Christmas in the 1930s. It features witty New York City celebrity radio orator Sheridan Whiteside, who injures his hip falling on a patch of ice while visiting the wealthy Stanley family.

Senior Leyland Hay portrays Whiteside, who is dressed in a silk gold robe and resides in a wheelchair during his stay.

Hay, who also writes skits for the drama club and performs with the Inglemoor improv group for students during breaks at school, enjoys Whiteside’s complexity and how he scopes out people’s traits to see if they’re welcome in his world.

“I think the best part is insulting people, cutting them off, being rude and kind of flaunting my power, because I’m a celebrity and they can’t tell me I’m doing something wrong. I’m Sheridan Whiteside, you know?”

With a grin, Hay added: “I don’t have nearly as much power as I do in the play (at Inglemoor). I can’t use my celebrity — I’ve got to use my huge muscles.”

For senior Natalee Merrill-Boyet (Maggie Cutler), it’s an adventurous experience playing Whiteside’s secretary. He’s strange and has weird friends who double as killers, she said.

“’Oh yeah, why don’t you just come over for lunch, you didn’t kill your wife or whatever and chop her up in a salad bowl. But hey, it’s OK, you’re my friend,’” she added, mimicking Whiteside. “It’s really interesting,”

Merrill-Boyet, who also gets to display her sarcasm through Cutler, noted that parts of “The Man Who Came to Dinner” resemble Inglemoor life.

“It’s like the real world, everything that’s in a high-school hallway,” she said. “You see all of these personalities, but these are the heightened personalities of everyday life. ‘Oh, this is real life, but you’re all a little bit crazier than real people are.’”

Junior Sam Hershgold (Bert Jefferson, Cutler’s love interest) has been involved in theater for four years, the last two at Inglemoor. He said there’s been some rough spots for the actors to overcome during rehearsals, but feels things will be good to go when they hit the stage.

“Everyone’s a natural on stage, everyone goes together,” Hershgold said, noting that he and best friends Hay and Merrill-Boyet are having fun with the play.

In fact, everyone is getting along famously during the production, and that’s what keeps him coming back to theater year after year.

“It just feels good that you put that much effort into something and a good result came out of it,” Hershgold said of the positive results.

Musicals are normally senior Lauren Kulesa’s forte, but she’s branching out and playing sassy and mean Lorraine Sheldon (Whiteside’s actress friend) to gain some ground in the acting realm.

“I think just having more experience with plays and musicals will just help me with my future career goals,” she said of majoring in voice in college.

The time spent preparing for “The Man Who Came to Dinner” to come to life can be grueling, but it will all be worth it in the end, Kulesa said.

“While it’s going on, it’s a little difficult, but then after it’s over, you always look back and say, ‘Oh, that was so fun, I miss it so much,’” she said judging from her involvement with musicals.

Director Stewart knows she’s got a funny play on her hands. She hopes that aside from the laughs, students and audience members can get a grasp on 1930s life, “bring them into that feeling by watching the show.”

While the actors have learned their lines and cues over the last six weeks, they haven’t worked themselves too hard so they don’t complete their homework assignments, attend football games and attend a Halloween event or two, Stewart said.

Come curtain call, the applause will be deserved.

“This is a great group, an absolutely phenomenal group. They’re active, and after they’ve been in class since 7 o’ clock in the morning, and you want to start doing stuff with them, it’s an enjoyment,” Stewart said. “They get a little goofy sometimes, but that’s part of that creative energy.”

• “The Man Who Came to Dinner” plays at 7 p.m. Nov. 3-4 and 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. Nov. 5. Tickets will be available at the door — $10 for adults and students with ASB; $7 for students without ASB, seniors, military and children.