A cast of colorful characters including a woman who speaks gibberish, an ex-convict with a foul-mouthed puppet and a limping, lisping half-deaf man convene to kick off the mainstage season for the Department of Theatre at Valparaiso University.

Opening Oct. 7 at VU's studio theater, "Fuddy Meers" centers around Claire, a young woman who suffers from a form of psychogenic amnesia that erases her memory every night she goes to sleep. Quirky characters surround Claire as she journeys closer to revealing her past life and everything she thought she'd forgotten.

"She wakes up with a blank slate everyday, she only knows about herself what people tell her," said Lee F. Orchard, the play's director and theater department chair. "And of course you're not sure throughout the play who is telling the truth."

Orchard said the play is not only funny and entertaining but it includes interesting observations of how much we really know about ourselves and others.

"I'm always interested in something that's funny but also has something to say," Orchard said.

The play's title is one character's attempt to pronounce the phrase "funny mirrors." (Imagine looking in one of those crazy mirrors at a carnival funhouse.)

"It's like, 'who is that person?' " Orchard said. "It all has to do with distortion of reality."

To present the idea of a carnival funhouse, the play is set onstage and revolves like a merry-go-round. Every new scene is another side of the merry-go-round.

"For every scene change, there's a little calliope music and the set turns round and round," Orchard said. "It's a fun feature in the way we've conceived the show."

"Fuddy Meers" features a cast of seven VU students including freshman Elyse "Nikki" Estes, of Munster, as Claire. She is joined by Tyler John Gegg (Richard), Zachary Phillips (Kenny), Joe Miller (Limping Man), Elyssa Salinas (Gertie), Dane Callstrom (Millet) and Amanda Berrios (Heidi).

The Department of Theatre at Valparaiso University will follow up "Fuddy Meers" with the musical adventure "Cabaret" in November.

'Fuddy Meers' presented by the Department of Theatre at Valparaiso University, 8 p.m. Oct. 7, 8 and 9; 2 p.m. Oct. 10 and 11.

WHERE: Studio Theatre, Valparaiso University Center for the Arts

FYI: (219) 464-5162 or purchase tickets online at http://www.valpo.edu/vuca