Odd couple to close out Little Theatre’s season

Fort Frances Little Theatre wants to leave their audience laughing as they wrap up their 1998/1999 season with Neil Simon’s female-version of “The Odd Couple.”
With Little Theatre veterans Joyce McCormick and Patti Anderson taking the lead roles of Olive and Florence (Oscar and Felix in the male version), director Mary Elder is confident the show will be a crowd pleaser when it opens next Thursday.
“Things are looking good–they’re looking funny,” Elder said. “There’s nice interaction between the characters. The energy of the show is up.”
Other Little Theatre familiars are Wendy Judson and Dianne Thompson, who make up the supporting cast along with Ray Maynard and Brian Hagarty as the play’s potential love interests.
MJ Allen and Lindsay McMillan round out the rest of the cast, making their Little Theatre debut with this production.
“The supporting cast plays an important role,” Elder said, noting they add to the humour of the play. “Without them, a lot of the story-lines would not be established.”
Elder said it she was excited to have McMillan and Allen in the play, saying it’s always good to have “new people and fresh faces.”
“Two young ladies from grade seven attended auditions,” she said, “and their enthusiasm and support was admirable. I’d like to see more of that happening, to have more people coming out.”
Although Elder has starred in several Little Theatre shows and has been active in community theatre for about 30 years, this is her first time in the director’s chair.
She said it’s been a learning experience for her now that she’s seen the “other side” of the stage. She’s also come to appreciate how important a technical team is to the director.
“We had really good support on our set construction from Richard Perron, who has been creative and flexible and very encouraging,” Elder said.
Elder had high praise for the play’s two stage managers, Rochelle Duchnicki and Maggie Simms, who also filled in for absent cast members during rehearsals.
“These ladies are so organized, they have everything done,” Elder said. “It’s very important to have well organized stage managers because they do so much behind the scenes–whatever the director needs assistance with.”
“The Odd Couple” runs next Thursday through Saturday at the Red Dog Inn as a dinner theatre, with cocktails at 6:30, dinner at 7 p.m. and the show beginning around 8 p.m. Reserved seating tickets are available at the Red Dog Inn for $28 a person.
A matinee performance also will be held Sunday at 2 p.m., with rush seating tickets at $10 a person.