DOWAGIAC, Mich. — Paul Mow directs “The Matchmaker” at Southwestern Michigan College Oct. 24 26.

In Thornton Wilder’s play, irascible, penny-pinching store owner, Horace Vandergelder (Josh Boger), refuses to let niece Ermengarde (Jessica Lopez) marry Ambrose Kemper, the poor artist she loves (Daniel Breen), while planning to remarry himself.

Vandergelder’s beleaguered clerk, Cornelius Hackl, is played by Jason Cope, with Danny Ferenczi as Barnaby Tucker, Vandergelder’s shop assistant.

Isaac James portrays Malachi Stack, Vandergelder’s tipsy apprentice.

Ferenczi and Boger live in the same Niles neighborhood, but met at SMC because the former attended Edwardsburg High School while the latter went to Brandywine High School, where he knew James. Cope is from Bellevue, near Lansing.

Boger played the title role in “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat” two years ago before moving to Tampa with his family.

“It seems like I’ve done this forever,” said Boger, a former Bremen, Ind., resident.

“I went to a really small school and we did little kid musicals, so I started in second grade and never stopped. My stepmom was a choir director. There was always music in the house. My dad played guitar in bands and acted when he was younger. I’ve never played a character this mean. It was difficult finding the right voice.”

“The leads are trying to transfer to other schools to be vocal performance or acting majors,” said Cope, who debuted in last spring’s Jason Robert Brown musical, “Parade,” in which Ferenczi starred as Leo Frank.

Cope came to college from Renaissance fairs, intending to major in medieval studies and be a professor or an historian who goes on digs.

“Some of the verbiage is hard because it was written a long time ago,” said Ferenczi, who has amazing physical comedy chemistry with Cope. “Thornton Wilder definitely has an eye for comedy. I acted all through high school. I want to go to (the University of Michigan). My first part was sophomore year.”

James started freshman year with “The Sound of Music” and “Bye Bye Birdie,” both with Boger. He portrayed Rooster Hannigan in “Annie” and the Cat in the Hat in “Seussical.” As a high school junior he appeared in SMC’s “Joseph.”

“I’ve only done musicals until now, with the exception of a melodrama at The Tin Shop in Buchanan,” James said. “This has a lot of heart. Each character has their own time to shine so you can find something to like about them.”

“It’s very well-written,” Boger agreed. “Even if you don’t like all the characters, you’re going to like one. It was very smart of  (Mow) to make a minimalist set. It’s not about flash, it’s about heart-to-heart moments with each character. Major characters each have their own monologue, breaking the fourth wall with the audience.”

Mow took students to U of M over Easter for “Les Miserables.”

“That was an eye-opener,” Cope said, “because that legitimately felt like a professional production. If these kids are the same age as us, we don’t have any excuses for not being all we can be in every production SMC does.”

“That’s kind of what Paul wanted to show us with that trip,” Ferenczi said. “Hey, this can be you, too.”

Ferenczi and Cope will jump from “Matchmaker” into “The Christmas Schooner” at the Mendel Center, followed by SMC’s spring musical, Stephen Sondheim’s “Into the Woods.”

Dolly Gallagher Levi (Eliza Carpenter), the matchmaker, pretends to help Vandergelder find a suitable bride while actually scheming to marry him herself.

Cope’s Hackl meets the woman of his dreams (Jessica Blank as Irene Malloy, the hat-hating milliner), although Vandergelder intends to marry her.

Miranda Rael plays Minnie Fey, Malloy’s hat shop assistant.

Bruno Streck Rodrigues and Alex Jones are waiters at the upscale Harmonia Gardens Restaurant. Chloe Chavers is the nanny Gertrude, with Tera Lynn Woolley as a gypsy musician.

Dakota Olguin is a world-weary cabman sucked into slapstick situations involving mistaken identities and secret rendezvous behind carefully placed screens.

In the end, everyone emerges happy and smarter.

Wilder revised his 1938 farce “The Merchant of Yonkers” and retitled it “The Matchmaker” in 1955. The year SMC was founded, 1964, David Merrick produced a musical version on Broadway.

“Hello Dolly,” starring Carol Channing, won 10 Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

“Hello Dolly” was also made into a 1969 film nominated for seven Academy Awards that starred Barbra Streisand. SMC staged “Hello Dolly” in 1982.

General admission costs $7, $5 seniors and is free to students with ID and those 18 and under. Shows start at 7:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and at 2 p.m. on Sunday.