Neil Simon’s “Laughter on the 23rd Floor” opened last week at Alpena Civic Theatre, and continues Thursday through Sunday.

The Alpena Civic Theatre cast brings high-energy talent to the stage in this adult comedy set in the 1950s in the writer’s room of a popular comedy variety show.

The comedy shows at 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and concludes with a 2 p.m. matinee Sunday.

This show is recommended for adults because of cussing, but the cussing is only a reflection of reality. When you’re under this much pressure, with executives breathing down your neck to constantly be funny, sometimes cussing becomes necessary to get through the day. Any writer knows that. Sometimes, “darn” just doesn’t cut it.

Courtesy Photo by Bronwyn Woolman Above, Lanier and Rybarcyzk ignore Hartman’s latest attempt for attention with his alleged illness as he dramatically flounders on the floor.

Simon fashioned this play from his own experience as a junior writer for “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour.” Most of the characters translate to real-life writers that Simon worked with in the writer’s room.

Directed by Lucas Moquin, with assistant directing by Jessica Luther, this play has all the right actors in all the right roles, and every last detail has been considered, down to the typewriter’s “ding.”

While each of the actors delivers a stellar performance, producing many laughs from the audience, several actors deserve particular praise for their hilarious depictions of Simon’s characters.

First, let’s talk about Ira Stone, played stupendously by ACT veteran Nick Hartman, who goes head-to-head with the intimidating Max Prince, played frighteningly well by local favorite Matt Southwell. The pair has acted many plays together, and their chemistry is evident as they play off each other with perfect comedic timing and ridiculous antics whenever they are onstage together. It’s scary good. Hartman is at his animated best as Ira Stone, who is convinced he is dying from a new ailment every day, which is why he is perpetually late for work.

Now, let’s talk about Max Prince, a mustache-sporting drunkard with a wild and crazy mind that can be brilliant one moment and angry enough to punch through a wall the next. All the writers seem equally in awe of him and afraid of him, since he holds the power to demean their hard work and/or send them packing. As usual, Southwell has surprises up his sleeve throughout the performance, including taking his pants off at one point, but that’s only to not wrinkle them prior to his performance as the biggest star on television. Whenever Southwell is onstage, you can bet you’re going to laugh your own pants off.

As the narrator and a new writer, Joey Lanier provides a strong performance as Lucas Brickman, a character that Neil Simon himself played in his 1993 play. Brickman shoots pretty straight, barely getting noticed by Prince at first, but he contributes more as the season moves on, getting comfortable in his role on the comedy writing team.

Joe Rybarczyk delivers quite a few zingers as Milt Fields, and has a heck of a time trying to stay on Prince’s good side, especially when he realizes he wore the wrong color suit. His life isn’t exactly going as planned, but he always has his dead-end job and a room full of jerks to keep him company.

Bill Powell peppers in a little foreign fun as the Russian immigrant writer Val Slotsky, whose accent makes it difficult for him to properly tell off his American coworkers. Powell’s acting experience is obvious, as he is very convincing as Slotsky, a neurotic and self-deprecating man with a nose for political humor. His facial expressions alone are enough to crack you up, but the accent is the icing on the Smetannik (Russian layer cake).

Andrew MacNeill generates a lot of laughs as Kenny Franks, as do Romeo Ambrose as Brian Doyle, and Hannah Matzke as the lone female writer, Carol Wyman. Tracie Papin rounds out the cast as the mousy secretary, Helen.

Tickets are $15 per adult and $8 per student. Call the box office at 989-354-3624. ACT is located at 401 River St., Alpena. For more information, visit alpenacivictheatre.com.