Home Lifestyle Female version of ‘The Odd Couple’ coming to Richmond Community Theatre

Female version of ‘The Odd Couple’ coming to Richmond Community Theatre

The cast of the female version of Neil Simon's 'The Odd Couple' have their first practice without scripts Monday night.
Matt Harrelson - Richmond Observer

ROCKINGHAM — Most people are familiar with “The Odd Couple” written by Neil Simon, although some might not know that Simon also wrote a female version of the play a few years later. The Richmond Community Theatre will present the latter for the second time in its history next month.

Instead of the characters Oscar and Felix, the female cast consists of Olive and Florence; however, the premise is the same, according to Theatre Director Merrie Dawkins.

“It’s about six women who are friends, and they get together and play Trivial Pursuit,” Dawkins said Monday night. “They discuss all their problems, they discuss their lives and things like that. One of their friends, Florence, was having marital problems. She is going through a crisis, and Olive invites her to stay with her. They are the odd couple. Then the conflicts start because one is a neat freak, the other one is a slob. So, they collide. That it why they are the odd couple.”

From there, Dawkins continued, they are introduced to two brothers from Spain, Manolo and Jesus played by Glenn Hussein and Michael Ruff, respectively, that Olive has met in the elevator, and they come over for a dinner date. Florence gets very nervous and ruins the whole thing.

“Then they all come back together and work out their problems, and it’s a nice little happy ending,” said Dawkins. “It’s a comedy. People are gonna laugh.”

Monday was the cast’s first rehearsal “off-book,” meaning everyone ran through the play without scripts. Dawkins said there was still work to be done but that everything was “coming along nicely.”

 As she mentioned, “The Odd Couple” is a comedy and one that Dawkins would rate as PG.

“I don’t think it would be one that young children would understand, but it’s funny, and it’s been a lot of fun to do, and it’s a great cast,” she said. 

The Richmond Community Theatre performed the male version of “The Odd Couple” back in the spring of 1993, then turned right around in the fall of the same year to put on the female production, Dawkins said.

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With the theatre now in its 42nd year, Dawkins said she and the board of directors were looking for plays that they knew the community would enjoy, plus most people already recognized “The Odd Couple” by name.

“This is one that had been done before. One of our board members had been part of the female version in Lumberton when they had a theater, and he had played one of the brothers,” said Dawkins. “He thought it would be a good play, also, to do. So, we decided it would be fun. We thought it would be something a little different because it is more adult. Sanders Family Christmas was obviously more of a family play.”

Dawkins also mentioned that it can be difficult sometimes to find male actors to audition, and that played a small factor in going with the female production of “The Odd Couple” this time around.

“That has something to do with what we’re doing right now, which means we want more males,” she said. “We’ve had enough males try out to do the plays that we’ve done. We’ve been able to select. We haven’t had to say, ‘Oh my goodness. You’re the only male to try out.’ These two guys (Hussein and Ruff) are just great together. Once you really watch them together, they’re just great. I think that has something to do with it, so the plays we’re thinking about doing next year will have more males in them. So, we would like to get a strong list of male actors of various ages.”

With the passing of Simon last August, Dawkins also said he was such a great playwright, and this was a small, but great way to pay him homage.

Those interested in attending “The Odd Couple” can purchase tickets online at brownpapertickets.com beginning Monday, Feb. 25, followed by the box office opening up on March 4 downtown. Hours for that will be 3:30 to 8 p.m. Monday through Friday and 12:30 to 6:30 p.m. on Saturdays. The number for the box office is 910-997-3765.

“The Odd Couple” will debut March 14 at 8 p.m. with shows at the same time March 15-16 and 21-23 with a Sunday matinee on March 17 at 3 p.m.

“We’re still into winter. The weather’s been kind of crazy. This is just a good way to come in, sit back, relax. It’s just a fun play,” Dawkins said as to why people should come check it out. “You get to kind of get a view of these women and their interactions with each other. It’s about friendship. It’s about going through hard times and supporting each other. It’s got a little romance in it, but it’s just another one of those fun plays that I think people will come and be glad that they came to the theatre.”



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