The Odd Couple (The Female Version) by Neil Simon

Cast:
Sylvie – Stacey Loew
Mickey – Randi Storm
Renée – Elizabeth Mitchell
Vera – Pam Wolf
Olive Madison – Ricci Hayes
Florence Unger – Bethany Zepponi
Manolo Costazuela – Oz Angst
Jesús Costazuela – John Dunn

Production Crew:
Costume Designer – Elizabeth Mitchell
Technical Director – Nick Curtis
Poster Design – Stephanie Cole
Set Designer – Christopher Behrens
Set Construction – Scott Dulaney, John McComber
Stage Manager – Doug Gerard

Setting: New York, Summer 1982.
Dreamweavers Theatre is proud to present The Odd Couple. This is the female version of Neil Simon's classic comedy in which two recently divorced women decide to share an apartment and discover the misery of living together.

Neil Simon's gender-switch rewrite, which premiered on Broadway in 1985 (twenty years after the original), outclasses the old script in many ways. Some improvements result from the editing that would happen with any revision; however, the most effective changes can be ascribed to his reworking the script for women.

Simon has more fully developed the characters of the mismatched pair, while retaining the key to the play's humor. The original roommates blame themselves for single-handedly breaking up their marriages and are fully aware of how they did so, but do absolutely nothing to change until the final scene. The female version provides a more balanced portrayal of two strong women with reasons for how they act. Whereas Oscar simply describes his sloppiness, Olive justifies hers: "My mind is into other things." Their former spouses were not perfect, either; "I'm married to a five foot three inch man with an oversized toupee and boots up to his knees who walks around saying 'Da'," Florence cries, "and he walks out on ME???"

Simon has also overhauled the play's secondary characters. The poker players exist mainly to give Felix and Oscar someone to annoy; when not reacting to one or the other, they have little to talk about. While the group scenes in the female version still focus on demonstrating Olive's and Florence's flaws, Simon took pains to establish the personalities of their friends as well. For them, playing the game is secondary to relaxing, talking, and spending time together on their weekly night out, and the dialogue reflects that. The game of choice - Trivial Pursuit - also contributes to fuller interaction, since the team play and mixed bag of questions gives the players more to respond to.

I like writing women very much," Simon said in an interview the same year the female version opened. "Men are more closemouthed about their real feelings, whereas women, if the situation is right, open up." (The New York Times Magazine, May 26, 1985)

Special Thanks :
Vallergas Market, Silverado Furniture, Susan Vanderpool, and Fazerrati’s Pizza

Marvin Neil Simon (Playwright)
was born in the Bronx on July 4, 1927, and grew up in Washington Heights at the northern tip of Manhattan. He attended New York University briefly (1944-45) and the University of Denver (1945-46) before joining the United States Army where he began his writing career working for the Army camp newspaper.

After being discharged from the army, Simon returned to New York and took a job as a mailroom clerk for Warner Brother's East Coast office. He and his brother Danny began writing comedy revues and eventually found their way into radio, then television where they toiled alongside the likes of Woody Allen, Mel Brooks and Larry Gelbart writing for The Phil Silvers Show and Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. Simon received several Emmy Award nominations for his television writing, then moved on to the stage where he quickly established himself as America's most successful commercial playwright by creating an unparalleled string of Broadway hits beginning with Come Blow Your Horn. During the 1966-67 season, Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, Sweet Charity and The Star Spangled Girl were all running simultaneously. During the 1970-71 season, Broadway theatregoers had their choice of Plaza Suite, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, and Promises, Promises. Still, critical acclaim came slowly for Simon. In spite of the fact that he had had more smash hits than any other American playwright, critics continued to take pleasure in dismissing him as a mere "writer of gags."

In 1973, following the death of his wife, Simon reached a low point in his career with two failures The Good Doctor (1973) and God's Favorite (1976). A move to California, however, reinvigorated him and he produced a much more successful play later that year in California Suite. After marrying actress Marsha Mason, Simon went on to write Chapter Two (1977) which was considered by many critics to be his finest play to that date. His fourth musical, They're Playing Our Song, proved fairly successful in 1979, but his next three plays (I Ought to Be in Pictures, Fools and a revised version of Little Me) all proved unsuccessful at the box office.

Then, in 1983, Simon began to win over many of his critics with the introduction of his autobiographical trilogy--Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985) and Broadway Bound (1986)--which chronicled his stormy childhood, his brief Army time, and the beginning of his career in television. Suddenly the critics began taking him seriously. He followed up in 1991 with Lost in Yonkers for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

During the course of his career, Simon has won three Tony Awards for Best Play (The Odd Couple, Biloxi Blues and Lost in Yonkers.) He has had more plays adapted to film than any other American playwright and, in addition, has written nearly a dozen original screenplays himself. He received Academy Award nominations for his screenplays The Odd Couple (1968), The Sunshine Boys (1975) and California Suite (1978). He has also been the recipient of the Antoinette Perry Award, the Writers Guild Award, the Evening Standard Award, the New York Drama Critics Circle Award, the Shubert Award, the Outer Circle Award, and a 1978 Golden Globe Award for his screenplay, The Goodbye Girl.

Oz Angst (Manolo Costazuela)
Oz is thrilled to be included in the cast of this wonderful comedy. His most recent roles include “Captain Horster” in Henrik Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People (Darkroom Productions) and “Hortensio” in The Taming of the Shrew (Solano Repertory Company). This is his first Dreamweavers production.

John Dunn (Jesús Costazuela)
John has been a resident of Napa for all 31 years of his overweight life. He has been married to Shanna for nine years and they have a beautiful daughter named Samantha. He has recently been in the Napa Valley College production of The Liar and Maricella DeLaLuz Lights the World aka “Poundz”. He performs with the improv group, Otter Spigots. He is also a mobile disc jockey and even spent sometime on the air at “KVYN”. Most times you can find him a Fazerrati’s Pizza where he is the daytime manager.

Ricci Hayes (Olive Madison)
Though Ricci enjoys the easy comic style of Neil Simon (she played "Karen Nash" in NVC's production of Plaza Suite); she says that it was working with her zany director and castmates that made the experience superb. She dedicates this performance to her mom and dad whose sarcasm and obvious reverse psychology continue to show her the meaning of unconditional love.

Stacey Loew (Sylvie)
Stacey loved the experience of playing "Maggie" in Dreamweaver's production of The Man Who Came to Dinner so much, (October-November 2001) that she has come back for more! Other recent credits include the tragic drunkard "Mrs. Daigle" in The Bad Seed, "Patsy" in Little Murderers, and "Blanche Cooke" in Night Watch, all at the Mira Theatre in Vallejo. She is also a member of the Gibson House Mystery Players, performing Dinner Theatre throughout the Bay Area and an "Arty" Judge (Solano County's version of the Tony Award).

Elizabeth Mitchell (Renée)
Ms. Mitchell is pleased to return to Dreamweavers Theater after appearing in their production of The Man Who Came to Dinner last fall. She has been performing for most of her life throughout California. Locally she has performed with Benicia Old Town Theater Group as "Sweet Sue" in Sugar, and "Mrs. Kelly" in Annie Warbucks. She has played “Aldonza” (Man of La Mancha), “Sister Mary Amnesia” (Nunsense, Nunsense II, the Second Coming, and Nunsense Jamboree), “Sonia” (Godspell) with Vallejo Music Theater, “Nana” (Whiskers) at the Lesher Regional Center for the Arts, “W.C.” with Gallatian Players, and “Jessie” (Prisoner of Second Avenue) and “Clelia Waldgrave” (The Nerd) for MIRA in Vallejo. Favorite roles include “Chava” (Fiddler), “Larkin” (Once Upon a Mattress), “Kate” (Taming of the Shrew), “Nurse” (Romeo and Juliet), “Lady MacBeth” (MacBeth) and “Katisha” and “Pitti-Sing” (Mikado). Recently, she debuted her one woman show, I Forgot, I Can¹t.

Randi Storm (Mickey)
Throughout her life, people have always said "with a name like that, you should be on stage!" Although a childhood dream, Randi never had the confidence to pursue it. At age 40, she began to tap dance for exercise, which quickly turned into performing with Dolly Grupalo and her tap sisters. Dolly always encouraged her to "follow my dream" and, before she knew it, she was dancing in the Follies du Valle in 1997. Randi discovered that she LOVED being on stage! She danced in the next three Follies and was given her first dramatic role in a short monologue as “Rosie the Riveter”. She has also danced in performances with the Napa Valley Community Theatre and recently substituted for two performances acting and singing (if you can call what she did singing) in their most recent production entitled First Crush: Love in the Napa Valley. After that show, a dear friend accompanied her (which is a nice way of saying, pushed her) to the audition for the Dreamweavers production of The Odd Couple. The rest, as they say, is history.

Dannille Vanderpool (Director)
Previously, Dannille directed Oleanna (Dreamweavers) and co-directed A Christmas Carol (Dreamweavers) with David Gassner. Acting endeavors include: Various roles, The Laramie Project (NVC); “Catherine Simms”, The Foreigner (Dreamweavers); and “Grumio”, The Taming of the Shrew (Solano Repertory Theatre Company). Last spring Dannille won The Dorothy and Hector MacLean Drama Award from Napa Valley College. She also serves on the staff of Dreamweavers as Literary Manager. When not immersed in theatre Dannille spends time with her daughter Sydney, attending school full-time, and training to run a marathon.

Pam Wolf (Vera)
Pam worked extensively in broadcasting, television, and print media for 13 years before becoming enamored with the arts. She has played "Curio" in Twelfth Night with Napa Shakespeare Festival, the "March Hare" in The Mad Hatter's Tea Party for the Napa Valley Repertory Theatre, and she currently teaches drama at Golden West Middle School, where she is helping create an arts program. This is her first performance with Dreamweavers'.

Bethany Zepponi (Florence Unger)
Bethany was last seen in The Laramie Project at Napa Valley College. A native of South Carolina, she now lives and works in Napa as a public relations consultant. This is her first Dreamweavers production.

LOGIN FORM