Pine Tree Players’ latest comedic offering will be one of firsts for the local amateur theatre group.
The play itself is not a first, of course, as The Odd Couple dates back to Neil Simon’s Broadway offering from 1965. But company-wise, The Odd Couple will feature actors new to Pine Tree Players and volunteers who are finding themselves on new ground, theatre-wise.
The Odd Couple will be staged in the Miners’ Union Hall, Sunday, April 6 (pay what you can), then April 8-10 and 14-16. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m.
With rehearsals well under way, PTP President and Director Elizabeth Green, who was also at the controls for PTP’s Almost Maine, said readying to stage the play has been, “terrific fun. It’s a very, very challenging play, and a long one.
“People said ‘you’ll never get six guys for this’, but we have six very strong guys for this play. It’s a lot of fun. I’ve been doing this for 50 years and I’m 72 now – how else would I be able to tell six guys what to do three times a week?”
Evan Burr (Oscar Madison) and Larry Whan (Felix Unger) have the lead roles, while Rob Murray (Roy), Christopher Yee (Speed), Simon Steele (Vinnie) and Gerry McAuley (Murray) round out the male portion of the cast.
Felix and Oscar’s upstairs neighbours, the Pigeon sisters, are played by Allanah Bellai (Cecily) and Martha McDairmid (Gwendolyn).
“It’s a very demanding play for the two leads,” said Green. “They’re on stage almost the whole time.”
The Odd Couple, of course, deals with divorce and Green said it struck her that, when the group of guys are playing poker, “that all the guys at the table are unhappy. They all complain about their wives.
“But Simon takes the situation of guys after a breakup, Oscar and Felix, and makes a comedy out of it.
“Probably the biggest challenge for the actors is that it’s such a well-known play. And all our actors are doing such a good job. You know they work a full-time day before coming here, they all have pressures and you can’t really shout at them.
“We have a lot of camaraderie and team effort. There’s a place for everybody and so much fun goes on backstage.”
As to new faces, producer Bob Snape said several long-time PTP members, “have stepped back to let some new blood take over.
“Dea Fischer stepped in (set design) and we’re happy to have her on board. April Browning is back after five or six years for wardrobe and Tan Rambo, who’s always been a stage hand, is working with Louise Shore to learn the ropes (stage managers).
“It’s great to have new, fresh minds at work.”
As well, said Snape, Sarah Lertzman is taking over some of the producer’s responsibilities, “which allows me to pass on the proverbial torch and concentrate on the administrative end.
“A lot of us have been doing this for a long time, we have families and need more personal and leisure time. We’ve been needing young, fresh people to come on board and take Pine Tree Players to the next level.”
Tickets ($20) for The Odd Couple are available at Second Story Books and Café Books on Main Street.
