After rehearsing for three hours a day, six days a week for six weeks, the ISU Theater department will present the student-produced and directed play “Fuddy Meers” at Fisher Theater this weekend.

The play is a dark comedy about Claire, a woman who has a form of amnesia that erases her memory every night when she goes to sleep.

The show portrays Claire’s journey to piece together her life while being led on the journey by her dysfunctional family, says Marcia Schultz, the show’s director and senior in communication studies.

Melanie Snow, who portrays Claire, says her character is aloof and childlike.

“I think it’s hard to play it so she doesn’t come off ditzy, but at the same time she tries to figure things out and take things seriously,” says Snow, junior in performing arts.

Claire’s husband, Richard, is the model citizen of his community. Or at least that’s how he’s supposed to appear, says Scott Morehead, who portrays Richard.

“[Richard] is the impractical application of self-help books,” says Morehead, junior in performing arts. “He talks like he’s read too many self-help books and he’s trying to hide a really dark past by putting on a perfect husband facade.”

Morehead says that because of the stress of dealing with Claire’s situation, Richard’s natural tendencies begin to emerge throughout the play.

“As an audience, you see that he has kind of violent tendencies, and he used to have a drug problem, ” he says.

Michael Dahlstrom, who portrays Millet, says his character is pretty innocent because of his lack of intelligence.

“I am the sidekick to the bad guy and I am crazy,” Dahlstrom says, graduate student in biochemistry, biophysics and molecular biology. “I have a puppet I talk to when I get upset.”

Dahlstrom says part of the play’s plot includes the people around Claire telling her who she is and what she is supposed to do.

“In the play, she gets two or three people telling her different things, and it’s up to her to find out which one is true,” Dahlstrom says.

Since the play is student-produced, students are responsible for costumes, sets, lighting and all other aspects of the show.

Erica Griese, the show’s costume designer, says that since the play is set in modern times each character’s costume depends on the character’s personality and how the actor portrays the character.

“I have two [characters] that escaped from jail,” says Griese, senior in performing arts. “One is in a suit that he stole from J.C. Penney’s and [for] another, I was thinking more like he took [the clothes] off a clothes line.”

She says that even though the play is a comedy, people need to come in with an open mind because the plot is unique.

“[The play] has serious issues — dealing with amnesia and dealing with violence and things like that,” Griese says. “It’s twisted in such a way that it’s really funny so it’s not as heavy as some of the things that have been going on in this past semester or so.”

Who: Fuddy Meers

Where: Fisher Theatre

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday

Cost: $2 students, $4 public