DOVER—
Garrison Players, the Dover area’s community theatre group, will stage Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, sponsored by D.F. Richard Energy, on Sept. 17-19, 24-26, and Oct. 1-3 at the Garrison Players Arts Center, Route 4 in Rollinsford, with evening shows at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m.
Director Jim Mastro says, “The Odd Couple is perhaps the most iconic and well-known of all comedic plays, and it established Neil Simon as the premier comedic playwright of his generation. Who doesn’t know about Felix the clean freak and Oscar the slob? Their names are synonymous with those traits, cemented forever into the American psyche.” Audiences will know Mastro, who started with the Garrison Players three years ago directing Academia Nuts, a hilarious comedy/farce by Gregg Kreutz. The next season, he directed Kreutz’s Bottoms Up! Jim Mastro has been involved in the performing arts since 1974, starting with a part in a community theater production of The Front Page. He went on to do stand-up comedy and improvisational comedy (with Whoopi Goldberg, before she was discovered) at the Comedy Store in San Diego. A writer by trade, Mastro has recently published The Talisman of Elam, the first book of his epic science fiction trilogy The Children of Hathor. The book is available online at www.TalismanOfElam.com and at the Amazon.com Kindle store.
The Odd Couple features Richard Harris in the role of Oscar Madison, the messy sportswriter, who takes in his hapless neat-freak friend, Felix Unger, played by Phil Hesketh, after Felix is tossed out of his home by his wife. Richard Harris has appeared in twenty-seven productions at the Players’ Ring in Portsmouth since 2001. Most recent of these are Labor Day, Glengarry Glen Ross and Love. Last fall’s History of the Roses was his first show with Garrison Players. Hesketh has been involved in community theatre for 14 years, appearing at the Garrison Players Arts Center in the comedies How the Other Half Loves, Love, Sex, & the IRS (as Leslie), and in last fall’s production of The Foreigner (as Charlie).
The show also features Scott Degan as Speed; Matt Smith as Murray; Chris Gempp as Vinnie; Jeff Melton as Roy; and Erin Misek and Rebecca Hios as the Pigeon sisters, Cecily and Gwendolyn. Tickets, at $15 for adults and $10 for students, are available online at www.garrisonplayers.org or by calling 1-800-838-3006.
Photo caption: Left to right — Richard Harris as the neatnik, Felix Unger, Rebecca Hios as Gwendolyn and Erin Misek as Cecily, the Pigeon sisters, critique a cake baked by slovenly Oscar Madison, played by Phil Hesketh in the upcoming Garrison Players production of “The Odd Couple.” (Courtesy photo)
Garrison Players, the Dover area’s community theatre group, will stage Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, sponsored by D.F. Richard Energy, on Sept. 17-19, 24-26, and Oct. 1-3 at the Garrison Players Arts Center, Route 4 in Rollinsford, with evening shows at 8 p.m. and Sunday matinees at 3 p.m.
Director Jim Mastro says, “The Odd Couple is perhaps the most iconic and well-known of all comedic plays, and it established Neil Simon as the premier comedic playwright of his generation. Who doesn’t know about Felix the clean freak and Oscar the slob? Their names are synonymous with those traits, cemented forever into the American psyche.” Audiences will know Mastro, who started with the Garrison Players three years ago directing Academia Nuts, a hilarious comedy/farce by Gregg Kreutz. The next season, he directed Kreutz’s Bottoms Up! Jim Mastro has been involved in the performing arts since 1974, starting with a part in a community theater production of The Front Page. He went on to do stand-up comedy and improvisational comedy (with Whoopi Goldberg, before she was discovered) at the Comedy Store in San Diego. A writer by trade, Mastro has recently published The Talisman of Elam, the first book of his epic science fiction trilogy The Children of Hathor. The book is available online at www.TalismanOfElam.com and at the Amazon.com Kindle store.
The Odd Couple features Richard Harris in the role of Oscar Madison, the messy sportswriter, who takes in his hapless neat-freak friend, Felix Unger, played by Phil Hesketh, after Felix is tossed out of his home by his wife. Richard Harris has appeared in twenty-seven productions at the Players’ Ring in Portsmouth since 2001. Most recent of these are Labor Day, Glengarry Glen Ross and Love. Last fall’s History of the Roses was his first show with Garrison Players. Hesketh has been involved in community theatre for 14 years, appearing at the Garrison Players Arts Center in the comedies How the Other Half Loves, Love, Sex, & the IRS (as Leslie), and in last fall’s production of The Foreigner (as Charlie).
The show also features Scott Degan as Speed; Matt Smith as Murray; Chris Gempp as Vinnie; Jeff Melton as Roy; and Erin Misek and Rebecca Hios as the Pigeon sisters, Cecily and Gwendolyn. Tickets, at $15 for adults and $10 for students, are available online at www.garrisonplayers.org or by calling 1-800-838-3006.
Photo caption: Left to right — Richard Harris as the neatnik, Felix Unger, Rebecca Hios as Gwendolyn and Erin Misek as Cecily, the Pigeon sisters, critique a cake baked by slovenly Oscar Madison, played by Phil Hesketh in the upcoming Garrison Players production of “The Odd Couple.” (Courtesy photo)
