What’s in a name? In the case of “Cheapjack Shakespeare,” a lot. The alluringly titled play—or, more accurately, a play within a play within a play —is the colorful brainchild of

SHAUN McLAUGHLIN, an animator, cartoonist, actor, you name it. McLaughlin, a Ken-more East grad, was employed for 12 years by Warner Bros. Animation in Los Angeles, where he worked on television episodes of “Batman Beyond,” “Superman” and “Justice League,” as well as other projects. After he was laid off, he moved back to Buffalo with his wife and two children in January 2009. Directed by Drew McCabe, “Cheapjack Shakespeare” is being staged by Alt Theatre. It opens Thursday and runs through Sept. 25. For info, call 868-6847.

How has Buffalo been treating you?

It’s great! We went on vacation a couple of weeks ago, and we were talking on the way home about how we all kind of wished we had moved here earlier. It’s been great for everyone. People here are so much nicer, so much more polite. It’s easy to get around and do things. We lived in the San Fernando Valley, and going into Los Angeles would be like driving from East Amherst in to Buffalo. I had a meeting one day in Imagine Entertainment about a script. It was at 11 a. m., and that was my day. I left the house at 9. The meeting was an hour and a half, and by the time I got back, it was 2:30, time to pick up the kids from school. It shot the whole day.

Tell us about “Cheapjack Shakespeare.”It’s about a troupe putting on“Richard III”?

It’s a comedy about life in theater, about a troupe putting on cheapjack Shakespeare, and things aren’t working out for them. It’s about your life and your job, and at some point, the original catchphrase is, it’s hard to grow up at any age. It’s a comedy about people figuring out what it means to grow up. As I’ve been told several times. (Laughs.) There’s a character in mid-40s, another in 20s, and they’re both having the same thought. That was part of what I went through. When I was at Warner Brothers, I was ready to start signing up for grad school, get my master’s. In television, if you’ve had a 12-year run, you’re on borrowed time.

You have a“Cheapjack Shakespeare” comic strip on your Web site(www.cheapjackshakespeare.com).Does the play follow the comic strip?

The play has some of the same characters, but they’re collapsed and condensed. Most of the people are playing several different characters. There are some characters from the comic that are doubling up. It’s not really an adaptation. It’s a reimagination of the Web comic.

I began it as a screenplay when I went back to school for my MFA, which would be four years ago now.My business partner, Gabriel, and I, we had it funded as a feature film. It became funded the day before the credit collapsed. The guy read it and he gave it the best notes I ever had. He said, “I only read half of it, I don’t understand half of it, but I think it’ll do great.” But then the credit crisis hit, and we lost our revolving line of credit.

Why“Richard III”?

Because it’s a story about ambition. “Richard III” seemed to be the best play to use. Also, I used to do a lot of acting, and I was in a production of “Richard III” at Shakespeare in Delaware Park. I always did want to write about it.

—Mary Kunz Goldman