Shows & Tickets
The Odd Couple
May 29 - June 29, 2008
By Neil Simon
Directed by Ted Pappas
Ted's Take: "Neil Simon is one of our country's finest writers and this is his greatest play. I love the characters he's invented: Oscar, Felix, Speed, Murray the cop, the Pigeon sisters, and the whole hilarious, motley crew! It's an American comedy classic."
Single tickets for The Odd Couple: $34 - $53
26 or younger?: Tickets are only $15. Call 412.316.1600 for details.
Age Appropriateness: Ages 12 and up.
Run Time: Approximately 2 hours, 15 minutes
More Photos of Neil Simon Productions
Our PUBLICATION newsletter gave you a taste of the unmatched range of Neil Simon; now here's a few more photos for your enjoyment...
Matthew Broderick, Elizabeth Franz and
Fisher Stevens in Brighton Beach Memoirs
Liz Sheridan, Jerry Stiller, Sy Travers and Anna
Berger in Simon's The Prisoner of Second Avenue
The Cast and Creative Team of The Odd Couple
KEN BOLDEN (Vinnie) is delighted to return to The Public after appearing earlier this season in The Comedy of Errors and Amadeus. Recent local work includes: Dr. Sweet in Bug for barebones productions; Frank in American Humbug for the Fourth River Festival; and Artemidorus in Julius Caesar for Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre. He has also performed for City Theatre, Quantum Theatre, Bricolage, and the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Performances in New York City include: Orgon in Tartuffe for Gad's Hill; and Hans in Push-Up 1-2-3, at the Rebecca Connolly Theatre. He was a member of Gad's Hill and Circle East, as well as an Artistic Associate with the Virginia Stage Co.
EMMA BOWERS (Gwendolyn Pigeon) is delighted to be making her debut at Pittsburgh Public Theater. Broadway credits include: The Winter's Tale (Mopsa and Emilia) directed by Brian Kulik, and Henry VIII, directed by Mary Zimmerman, both for The Public Theater (New York Shakespeare Festival). Off-Broadway: Sake with the Haiku Geisha (Charlotte Linscott and Rosalind), Tryst (Adelaide Pinchin, standby for Amelia Campbell), Things You Shouldn't Say Past Midnight (Grace and Nancy). Regional credits include: The Indiana Repertory Theater, Sister Carrie (Carrie); The Market Theatre, Family Stories: Belgrade, by Bilgana Siblonavic (Nadezda); Yale
Rep, Fighting Words (Peg), directed by Liz Diamond. Film: Big Dreams in Little Hope by Erin Greenwell (Natalie) and Deadline written and directed by Karen Odyniec (Agneskia). TV: "Strangers with Candy" (Rebecca-Winner Comedy Central's Donkey Awards, Audience Favorite Guest Star Performance). Emma is a graduate of the Juilliard School's Drama Division.
RANDY KOVITZ (Roy) Broadway: Burn This with John Malkovich and Joan Allen, Othello with James Earl Jones, Christopher Plummer, and Dianne Wiest as well as Macbeth at Lincoln Center. Off-Broadway: Jewel Walker's Tuesday and Romeo and Juliet, with Kate Burton. Regional theater: Yale Rep., American Shakespeare Festival, Laguna Playhouse, L.A. Center, Shakespeare Festival/L.A., and many others. Pittsburgh theater: The Real Thing, The Visit and Mother Courage at Playhouse REP, Stuff Happens and King Lear at Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, The Grey Zone for barebones productions, The Ride Down Mount Morgan at Jewish Theatre of Pittsburgh, and Of Mice and Men at Prime Stage. Television credits include "E.R.," " The Practice," \"Numbers," \"Boomtown," "Hill Street Blues," and "King of Queens," among many others. His film credits include Dawn of The Dead, Knightriders, Reunion (with Denzel Washington), Music From Another Room (with Jude Law), and others. Ongoing self-generated work includes music, film and theater projects, most recently the theater/video hybrid Happy To Be Here at the Bricolage theater space.
ERIC LEVITON (Murray) has performed all over the United States and Canada as well as on London's West End and in Sydney, Australia. He's toured in such shows as Chicago (as Amos, "Mr. Cellophane") The Full Monty (as Dave Bukatinsky), Seussical (as Horton, the Elephant), starring Cathy Rigby, and Damn Yankees (as Sohovik), starring Jerry Lewis. Eric has also played Dave in productions of The Full Monty in Colorado (Henry nomination) and Florida as well as having the opportunity to appear in the long-running, Ovation Award-nominated revival of The Rocky Horror Show (as Eddie and Dr. Scott) starring David Arquette. He has taken on the role of The Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz for McCoy/Rigby Entertainment (Drama-
Logue Award) and twice for the Sacramento Music Circus. Eric's numerous television credits include roles on "Desperate Housewives," "Scrubs," "Diagnosis Murder," "Beverly Hills 90210," and Disney's Annie, as well as a recurring role as The Heckler on "Late Night with Conan O'Brien." Eric is the co-creator and producer of the Nightlife Award-winning show, A Little Traveling Music.
DOUG MERTZ (Speed) is thrilled to return to The Public where he has appeared in The Comedy of Errors, Oedipus the King, Anna in the Tropics, Mary Stuart, Much Ado About Nothing, and was the understudy for I Am My Own Wife. He recently appeared in a staged reading of Woman from the Past for Bricolage (vote for it!). Doug is a teaching artist at the University of Pittsburgh where he recently appeared in a production of The American Clock by Arthur Miller and toured in Macbeth for Pitt's Shakespeare in the Schools (SITS) program. Next fall Doug will serve as Acting Director of the MFA Program in Performance Pedagogy for Pitt's Department of Theatre Arts. He is a previous Post-Gazette Performer of the Year and a proud member of Actors' Equity.
ANDREW POLK (Oscar Madison) has appeared in New York in The Accomplices (The New Group, 2007 Drama Desk Award nomination for Outstanding Featured Actor), Walmartopia (Minetta Lane Theatre), The Green Zone (Lincoln Center Directors Lab), Flight (Lucille Lortel Theatre), Critical Darling (The New Group), Vick's Boy (Rattlestick Playwrights Theater), The Truth Teller (Circle Repertory Company), and Scaring the Fish, among many others. He also appeared in the Broadway tour of Biloxi Blues (Carbonell Award, Helen Hayes Award nomination). Regional theater credits include Speed-The-Plow (A.C.T.), State of the Union (Ford's Theatre), A New War (Long Wharf Theatre), Dinner with Friends (Alley Theatre), Love! Valour!Compassion! (Philadelphia Theatre Company, Barrymore Award), Angels in America (Alliance Theatre), and performances with Arena Stage, Philadelphia Drama Guild, Actors Theatre of Louisville, and Trinity Repertory Company, among many others. Film and television credits include Under New Management, Loverboy, Private Parts, Entropy, "30 Rock," "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Law & Order: CI," and "Third Watch." Polk trained at London's Webber-Douglas Academy of Dramatic Art under a Fulbright scholarship. He is also Artistic Director of The Cape Cod Theatre Project.
JOHN SCHERER (Felix Ungar) was seen last season on Broadway in Lovemusik directed by the legendary Harold Prince. He previously collaborated with Mr. Prince in 3hree. He starred on Broadway as Bertie Wooster in By Jeeves (directed by Sir Alan Ayckbourn) and played Joe Gillis opposite Betty Buckley in Sunset Boulevard. Other New York appearances include The Most Happy Fella (New York City Opera) and the all star Actors Fund benefit performance of Funny Girl at the New Amsterdam Theater. He has toured nationally in Cats, 42nd Street, Mame with Juliet Prowse, and Hello Dolly with Michele Lee. He won the Connecticut Critics Circle Award for his performance as George M. at the Goodspeed Opera House and has appeared in leading roles across the country in many regional theaters. Television appearances include "Crossing Jordan," "The Shield," "Titus," "Guiding Light," and all three "Law & Order" series. Recordings include Lovemusik, By Jeeves, 3hree and Andrew Lloyd Webber: Now and Forever. He is thrilled to be back at The Public where he has appeared in Broadway, By Jeeves, Room Service, and A History of the American Film. He is a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University.
MEREDITH ZINNER (Cecily Pigeon) Pittsburgh Public Theater: RolePlay. Off-Broadway: Jump!, Sore Throats, Trust, The Notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci. Regional: Barrington Stage; The Importance of Being Earnest, Goodman Theatre; The Rose Tattoo, All's Well That Ends Well, Arcadia, The Notebooks of Leonardo DaVinci. Steppenwolf Theatre; LIBRA (Dir: John Malkovich), S/M (dir: Mary Zimmerman). Mary Zimmerman's A Midsummer Night's Dream (Huntington Theatre), The Arabian Nights, The Secret in the Wings, The Odyssey. Other Chicago: Shopping and F**king, Picasso at the Lapin Agile, In The Eye of the Beholder. Improvisation: Magnet Theatre; ED and Jazz Freddy. Film/TV: Erin Brockovich (with Julia Roberts, Dir: Steven Soderbergh), Fencing Miss Morality, The Secret, Serious Business, Since You've Been Gone (Dir: David Schwimmer), The Beloved, "Law & Order," "Law & Order: SVU," "Law & Order: CI" (recurring), "Late Night with Conan O'Brien (recurring)," "All My Children," "Guiding Light," "ER" (recurring), "2 Guys And A Girl," "The Division," and "TURKS."
TED PAPPAS (Producing Artistic Director; Director of The Odd Couple) celebrates his eighth season as artistic director of Pittsburgh Public Theater and his 15th year of close association with the company as a director. He has staged 26 productions for The Public encompassing an extraordinary range of styles and periods, including Euripides' Medea and Sophocles' Oedipus the King, Shakespeare's The Comedy of Errors, Romeo and Juliet, Much Ado About Nothing, and The Tempest, Schiller's Mary Stuart, Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, the American premiere of Ayckbourn's RolePlay, the world premiere of Zellers and Collier's The Chief, three
Gilbert & Sullivan operettas, Kander & Ebb's Cabaret, Peter Shaffer's Amadeus, and Sondheim's Sweeney Todd. He has enjoyed a distinguished career as a director and choreographer for some of North America's great companies including Joseph Papp Public Theater, Williamstown Theatre Festival, Canadian Opera Company, Toronto's Royal Alexandra, Goodspeed Musicals, and New York City Opera under the leadership of Beverly Sills. He has worked on and off Broadway, at the Cannes Film Festival, in Las Vegas, and on television, where he served as choreographer
for NBC's "Saturday Night Live."For the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra,he staged the acclaimed concert The Music of Fred Rogers, featuring Tommy Tune and John Lithgow. A graduate of Northwestern University and Manhattan's Hunter College, he is the past president of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers, the national labor union.
NEIL SIMON (Playwright) has been represented on Broadway by Come Blow Your Horn, Little Me, Barefoot In the Park, The Odd Couple (1965 Tony Award), Sweet Charity, The Star-Spangled Girl, Plaza Suite, Promises, Promises, Last of the Red Hot Lovers, The Gingerbread Lady, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, The Sunshine Boys, The Good Doctor, God's Favorite, California Suite, Chapter Two, They're Playing Our Song, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Fools, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues (1985 Tony Award), the female version of The Odd Couple, Broadway Bound, Rumors, Lost in Yonkers (1991 Pulitzer Prize, Tony Award), Jake's Women, The Goodbye Girl, Laughter on the 23rd Floor, Proposals, The Dinner Party and 45 Seconds from Broadway. Off-Broadway: London Suite and Hotel Suite. Films include: Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple, The Out-of-Towners, Plaza Suite, The Heartbreak Kid, The Prisoner of Second Avenue, Murder by Death, The Sunshine Boys, The Goodbye Girl, The Cheap Detective, California Suite, Chapter Two, Seems Like Old Times, Only When I Laugh, I Ought to Be in Pictures, Max Dugan Returns, Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, Lost in Yonkers and
The Odd Couple II.
JAMES NOONE (Scenic Designer) returns to Pittsburgh Public Theater where he last designed this season's The Comedy of Errors, This Wonderful Life, and Amadeus. Mr. Noone's Broadway credits include A Bronx Tale, Come Back Little Sheba, Match, Urban Cowboy, A Class Act, Judgment at Nuremberg, Jekyll and Hyde (Drama Desk, American Theater Wing Design Award), The Rainmaker, Night Must Fall (Drama Desk Nomination), Getting and Spending, The Sunshine Boys, The Gin Game, and Inherit the Wind. Off-Broadway credits include Fully Committed, Full Gallop, Three Tall Women, Frankie and Johnny in the Claire de Lune, The Boys in the Band, Cowgirls, Breaking Legs, The Green Heart (Lincoln Center Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, Playwrights Horizons, Primary Stages, Roundabout Theatre, Atlantic Theater, Second Stage). Regional credits include Huntington Theatre Company, Goodspeed Musicals, Long Wharf Theatre, Seattle Repertory Theatre, The Washington Opera, Canadian Opera, Portland Opera, Geffen Playhouse, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, and The Cleveland Play House. Tours included Jekyll and Hyde (1999), The Belle of Amherst, The Gin Game, Deathtrap, Three Tall Women, Stieglitz Loves O'Keefe, and also The History of Sex at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas and Latin Soul in Atlantic City.
MARTHA BROMELMEIER (Costume Designer) returns to The Public where she recently designed The Gin Game. New York Credits: Playhouse 91 - Menopause: The Musical; The Century Theatre - The Gorey Details; The Blue Heron Theatre - Sacred Journey; LaMama - God, the Devil, and the Crackhouse; Naked Angels - Saturday Mourning Cartoons, Naked Faith, and The Stand In; Primary Stages - The Joy Solution and At the Still Point. Regional Theater Designs: Goodspeed Musicals - Double Trouble, Gotham, Glimmerglass, and co-designer with Tony Walton for Where's Charlie; Pittsburgh Public Theater - Falsettos, Sweeney Todd, and Roleplay; Barrington Stage - Tea; North Carolina Broadway Preview Series - Funny You Don't Look Like a Grandmother. Associate Designer with Martin Pakledinaz on Gypsy, starring Patti LuPone and to William Ivey Long for Princesses, Sweet Charity, The Producers, Cabaret, A Christmas Carol, and Hairspray.
KIRK BOOKMAN (Lighting Designer) returns to Pittsburgh Public Theater where he recently designed The Comedy of Errors, Oedipus the King, The Tempest, Ain't Misbehavin' and RolePlay. New York productions: What Then, Ohio Theatre, The Cook , Intar Theatre 53, Recent Tragic Events, Playwrights Horizons (starring Heather Graham), and Shanghai Moon at Drama Department (starring Charles Bush). For the National Actors Theatre/Broadway: The Sunshine Boys (Jack Klugman and Tony Randall), The Gin Game (Julie Harris and Charles Durning), Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, and Right You Are. For the Irish Rep: Bedbound, Playboy of the Western World, Eclipsed, and two productions directed by Tony Walton: The Importance of Being Earnest, and Major Barbara. Other New York productions include Mondo Drama, Havana is Waiting, Force Continuum, My One Good Nerve (starring Ruby Dee), The Green Heart at Manhattan Theatre Club, The Shawl, Rude Entertainment, The Book of Liz (David and Amy Sedaris), Les MIZrahi (Isaac Mizrahi), Hope is the Thing with Feathers, As Thousands Cheer, and June Moon. Regional: Goodspeed Opera House, Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Geva Theatre, Coconut Grove Playhouse, and Santa Fe Stages. Ballet: English National Ballet, Santiago Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet and Kansas City Ballet. Thomashefsky, Of Thee I Sing, Oedipus Rex, and Nightingale, for the San Francisco Symphony. Most recently: A Flowering Tree directed by Peter Sellars.
ZACH MOORE (Sound Designer) most recently designed the sound for A Number, Amadeus, The Comedy of Errors, the revival of The Chief, and The Gin Game here at Pittsburgh Public Theater. He has designed over 40 productions at The Public, including the world premieres of The Glorious Ones, The Secret Letters of Jackie and Marilyn, The Chief, and Paper Doll, the American premieres of The Bird Sanctuary and RolePlay (also original music), as well as Cabaret, Oedipus the King, Gem of the Ocean, I Am My Own Wife, The Tempest, Broadway, Anna in the Tropics, Mary Stuart, The Mikado, Dirty Blonde, The Piano Lesson, Man of LaMancha, Fully Committed, Medea, Tea, Wit and You Can't Take it With You. As the Sound Designer for The Reduced Shakespeare Company, his designs of Completely Hollywood
(abridged) and The Bible: The Complete Word of God (abridged) can be heard all over the world. Other designs include The Bird Sanctuary (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), Falsettos (The Huntington), Blue/Orange (TheaterWorks Hartford), Paper Doll (Long Wharf Theatre), Fully Committed (Dallas Theater Center, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center, and McCoy/Rigby Productions in LA), and Games of Steel for Attack Theatre. Zach also plays guitar in the band Hero Destroyed.
STEVE O'SHEA (Assistant Lighting Designer) Recent Designs: SubUrbia (Montclair State U.), Mere Mortals (Two River Theater Co.), Last Easter (Drew University), The Tempest (Pulse Ensemble Theatre), Father Joy (Summer Play Festival NYC), Princess Phooey, Perfect Monster, Everything About School, Apt 3, Maggie and the Pirate, They Chose Me (TADA Theatre Co.), Midsummer Night's Dream (Vital Theatre), Cloning Judson (Southern Rep. New Orleans), He and She (TACT), Blade to The Heat, Aloha Say The Pretty Girls, 12 Ophelias (Baruch College), Murder In The Cathedral (University of CT), Late (Clubbed Thumb), Brainpeople (Hour Glass Group), Tristan Und Isolde, Magic Flute, Norma, Le Nozze di Figaro (Teatro de la Opera, San Juan PR), End of the Rope (Sibiu International Theater Festival, Romania). MFA University of Washington 2002.
MARK SIMON (Casting Director) For Pittsburgh Public Theater: Cabaret, Man of La Mancha,Dirty Blonde, Broadway, RolePlay. World premiere productions of 13, The Last Five Years, Parade, Lovemusik, 3hree, Hollywood Arms, Bounce, Chita Rivera: The Dancer's Life, Adrift in Macao, Harlem Song, Sweet Smell of Success and Ragtime. Also: Die Mommie Die!, Show Boat,Candide, Sweeney Todd, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Pippin, The Thomashevskys, and The Radio City Christmas Spectacular. Member, Casting Society of America.
FRED NOEL (Production Stage Manager) marks his 19th season at Pittsburgh Public Theater. He also completed four seasons with The National Theatre of the Deaf, touring throughout the United States and China. Mr. Noel was stage manager for the Performing Arts Season at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf in Washington, D.C. and Gallaudet University's tours of Europe, Argentina, Japan, India, South Africa, Mexico, and Romania. He also serves part-time as Production Manager for DC area Quest Productions. In 2002, he helped the company produce Deaf Way II, an international deaf arts festival, and in summer 2003, they produced several shows as part of the Edinburgh International Fringe Festival. His credits also include the Off Broadway production of Women of Manhattan. Mr. Noel is a Pennsylvania native and Alumnus of Duquesne University. In Pittsburgh, he has also stage managed for Don Brockett Productions, Civic Light Opera, and Carnegie Mellon Showcase of New Plays.
REBECCA J. STEVENS (Assistant Stage Manager) Some favorites Pittsburgh Public Theater include: I Am My Own Wife, Life X 3, The Gin Game, This Wonderful Life, and A Number. PPT's The Young Company: The Crucible and The Servant of Two Masters. The Mountain Playhouse (Stage Manager): The Chief, The Underpants, Keep on the Sunny Side, and 1889: The Flood. The Summer Company/Red Masquers (Stage Manager): Long Day's Journey into Night, and Taming of the Shrew. Actors Theater of Louisville: The Miser, Glass Menagerie, Christmas Carol, Underneath the Lintel, Memory House, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, and Uncle Sam's Satiric Spectacular (Fringe NYC). Other companies she has worked with include: Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Medieval and Renaissance Players, Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre, Prime Stage, among others. Rebecca is a graduate of Duquesne University with a dual degree in Theater Arts and English and has additional training at Actors Theater of Louisville. Rebecca is currently a producer and Assistant Director with The Summer Company in Pittsburgh, PA.
News About the Show
- May 29, 2008: Stage Preview: The Odd Couple
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette - May 28, 2008: Public Breaks New Ground with Simon Classic
Pittsburgh Tribune-Review - April 3, 2007: Final Production of 2007-2008 Season Announced: Neil Simmon's THE ODD COUPLE (pdf)