Dr. Kenneth Stilson, professor of acting and directing at Southeast Missouri State University, said to name any emotion and it's most likely raised within "Brighton Beach Memoirs."

"Brighton Beach Memoirs" is a play written by Neil Simon that tells the story of a Polish-Jewish family trying to make ends meet in 1937 Brooklyn, N.Y. The play is semi-autobiographical and is narrated from the perspective of 14-year-old Eugene Morris Jerome. Stilson said that while it's often comedic, it is also a coming-of-age piece.

"I wouldn't call it just a comedy because it's much deeper than that," Stilson said. "Although it has a whole lot of comedy in it, the comedy comes out of this family who are all struggling to find themselves, basically. There's a war coming and it's the middle of the Great Depression, so ultimately this play ends up being about -- yes, growing up, a coming-of-age type of play with a lot of humor -- but it's about family, about love."

Brighton Beach is the section of Brooklyn where the family lives. Eugene is an aspiring writer, and what the audience sees on stage is what he has penned as his memoirs.

"The character of Eugene Morris Jerome talks directly to the audience, and the whole world, the world that he lives in, is seen through his eyes, his pubescent eyes," Stilson said. "So it's told from a very unique perspective of a Jewish boy with an incredible imagination in 1937 in Brooklyn who's growing up in a poor neighborhood and dealing with all sorts of stuff. From puberty and falling in love with his cousin and dealing with real issues, including poverty and the war."

The cast is made up of seven characters total. Eugene lives in a house with his parents, Kate and Jack, an older brother, Stanley, his aunt Blanche, younger cousin, Laurie and older cousin, Nora.

According to Stilson, the production was put on by Southeast back in the 1980s, but he has wanted to show it again for some time.

"It's not just that it's a classic American play," Stilson said. "It is because it still is such a powerful and funny, touching, American classic that is still relevant to our audiences today. It still talks to our audiences. It has been on our hit list to do for many, many years. It was really kind of an easy choice because it's got a lot of young characters in it, characters that these students can identify with right now."

Stilson said the ability to relate to the events portrayed in the play is what makes the production so great. The script is funny because audience members have experienced it first-hand. He explained that it's easy to watch a scene and say, "That's my Aunt So-and-So!"

Shannon Walton, who plays the part of Eugene's Aunt Blanche, said if the audience leaves talking about the show then the actors have done their job.

Stilson said the cast's ensemble work was most important to putting on a successful production. The script wasn't written in scenes, and, a majority of the time, the entire cast is all on stage, whether they have lines in the moment or not.

"What you have to learn to do as an ensemble cast is not just to speak your lines and to do your particular actions that you instigate, but you have to become an extraordinary listener and you have to learn to react to everything that's going on around you," Stilson said. "You have to stay engaged in the plot, the conversation, what's happening with the characters, even in long periods of time when you're not the dominant speaker. Yet you have to do it in such a way that you're moving the plot forward."

A few of the actors in the cast expressed that when they came into this show, they had more experience in musical theater. Noah Hendry, who plays Eugene, said this was his biggest challenge to overcome.

"I'm a musical theater major," Hendry said. "This is like the first play I've actually ever been in in college and in a really long time. It's just been really fun getting to work with such a small group of people. You get a lot more room to play when you're not worrying about a bunch of musical numbers and singing and dancing. It's a lot more of an intimate environment, so I really liked that."

Jessica Love, though most know her as Jess, added to Hendry's perspective, coming from musical theater as well. She remembered Stilson telling her to not to be "too musical theater" during the first week of rehearsals and how it was difficult but beneficial to her career to be able to switch between the two mindsets.

Walton said taking on her character was the complete opposite of her typecast.

"I've been typecasted here a good bit as bombastic and loud and almost obnoxious. Being a more subtle character, a weaker character, has really, really, really challenged me in the best way possible," she said.

As a result of such a small group, the cast members all agree that they've become a sort of family. Madison Doty, portraying Kate Jerome, said there wasn't a better way to end her senior year.

"Being able to work with a cast of only seven people is so much fun, and I loved being able to create a family with this cast," Anna Hebrank, who acts as Eugene's younger cousin Laurie, said.

Stilson said you can't help but fall in love with the show.

"If you relate to one of them [the characters] or one instance, then it was worth coming I think," Walton said.

"Brighton Beach Memoirs" will show at 7:30 pm. from April 30-May 3 and 2 p.m. on May 4 in the Wendy Kurka Rust Flexible Theater at Southeast's River Campus. Tickets are $15 for the public and $3 at the discounted student price.