{"id":3611,"date":"2017-10-08T13:15:33","date_gmt":"2017-10-08T17:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/?p=3611"},"modified":"2017-10-08T13:15:33","modified_gmt":"2017-10-08T17:15:33","slug":"honesty-in-comedy-dramacentre-brings-the-odd-couple-female-version-to-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/2017\/10\/08\/honesty-in-comedy-dramacentre-brings-the-odd-couple-female-version-to-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Honesty in Comedy: DramaCentre Brings The Odd Couple: Female Version to Campus"},"content":{"rendered":"

BY KIT HAIST – STAFF WRITER<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Even if you aren\u2019t familiar with Neil Simon\u2019s oeuvre, you\u2019ve still probably heard the phrase \u201cOdd Couple.\u201d It\u2019s a fairly simple concept. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s two people living together who are complete opposites,\u201d said Jonathan Hunt \u201918, director of The Odd Couple: Female Version. <\/em><\/p>\n

Simon\u2019s original play about \u201ccomplete opposites\u201d follows Felix Unger, the fussy hypochondriac, moving in with Oscar Madison, the slob, after being kicked out by his wife. The Odd Couple: Female Version<\/em> establishes a similar context to the original. Florence Unger is going through a divorce, and Olive Madison takes her into her incredibly messy apartment. \u201cThere\u2019s wadded up paper all over the floor, and there are clothes that haven\u2019t been folded but are clean, just kind of hanging on a railing,\u201d Hunt said.<\/p>\n

Florence, like Felix, has stumbled into a foreign environment. \u201cShe\u2019s very neat, very very neat,\u201d said Diana Smith \u201920, of her character, Florence. \u201cShe likes everything to have a place and everything to be in its place.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely exaggerated. You wouldn\u2019t see people react in such crazy ways,\u201d said Zoe Zink \u201919, who plays Olive and Florence\u2019s friend Vera, about the comedy that ensues when two polar opposites negotiate living with one another. \u201cWe are taking it as far as we can and maybe crossing the line a little bit further,\u201d Zink explained of the cast\u2019s approach to humor.<\/p>\n

Despite the ostensible similarities in plot, character, and humor, Hunt cautions against assuming The Odd Couple: Female Version <\/em>is just \u201cthe same story, but we just put women in it.\u201d He went on to say, though the concept may be the same, the play is \u201cwriting honest, realistic women and then putting the situation into their world.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith was originally attracted to the production for being a strong female-driven comedy. She said, \u201cI don\u2019t think there\u2019s been a show like this at Centre in a while, and I\u2019m really excited to be a part of bringing it here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The play does bring a shift in tone to the new theatre season. Hecuba<\/em>, a Greek Tragedy exploring displacement from one\u2019s home, Rabbit Hole,<\/em> a play examining familial loss, and Love 95 Times, <\/em>a play discussing sexual assault on college campus, comprised DramaCentre\u2019s season last year. Hunt acknowledged the necessity of these plays and of discussing these topics, but stated how he wanted to remind people, \u201cevery once in a while, you just have to laugh. You have to remember there\u2019s hope, and there\u2019s friendship, and there\u2019s love.\u201d<\/p>\n

For all of Florence\u2019s and Olive\u2019s antics, The<\/em> Odd Couple: Female Version <\/em>ultimately seems to be a play about friendship, hope, and self-acceptance, a sentiment DramaCentre hopes the audience takes away from the production, as they have themselves.<\/p>\n

Zink said she learned to have more confidence in her ideas knowing \u201cpeople will support you and critique you but in a positive way.\u201d She hopes the audience sees this as a show about friendship and \u201cthe importance of being happy with oneself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hunt relayed how balancing directing with being a student was difficult, but he knew he had support from people \u201ccreating their own art, whether it\u2019s the actors, or the designers, or even just a first-year technician who has a question that just blows the whole roof off of something.\u201d<\/p>\n

He hopes the audience leaves thinking, \u201c\u2018Maybe we\u2019re ok, being who we are despite what other people tell us. Maybe it\u2019s better for us to feel liked instead of feeling needed.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt makes me really grateful for my friends and the affect that friendship has on our lives,\u201d expressed Smith. She hopes to bring the joy of comedy to the audience. \u201cPeople need to laugh and if we can give people a reason to laugh that\u2019s even better.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Odd Couple: Female Version <\/em>will certainly bring the comedy of the original play and the subsequent movie and three television sitcoms it spawned.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s still The Odd <\/em>Couple,\u201d Hunt said. \u201cBut it\u2019s going to be a little different than a bunch of men playing poker.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Odd Couple: Female Version <\/em>runs from Oct. 4 to 7. Showtime is 8:00 p.m. The Showtime for the Oct. 7 performance is 5:00 p.m.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

BY KIT HAIST – STAFF WRITER Even if you aren\u2019t familiar with Neil Simon\u2019s oeuvre, you\u2019ve still probably heard the phrase \u201cOdd Couple.\u201d It\u2019s a fairly simple concept. \u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s two people living together who are complete opposites,\u201d said Jonathan Hunt \u201918, director of The Odd Couple: Female Version. Simon\u2019s original play about \u201ccomplete opposites\u201d follows […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3612,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3611","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-leisure"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3611","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3611"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3611\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3611"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3611"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cento.centre.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3611"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}