Brown County Playhouse produces Neil Simon classic

The Brown County Playhouse is currently running a production of Neil Simon's "The Odd Couple," which opened last weekend. The playhouse is located 20 minutes from Bloomington in Nashville, Ind.\nThe classic play, which was the inspiration for a movie and a television series, centers around an issue with which many college students can identify: hellacious roommates. In this case, two roommates are polar opposites -- one is messy and apathetic, and the other is extremely tidy and nearly neurotic.\nChuck Goad plays Felix, whose wife leaves him. After threatening to commit suicide, he moves in with Oscar, who is played by Rob Johansen. Oscar needs the financial aid of a roommate to help manage his alimony and child support. Tempers flair during poker night and Oscar's attempt to set Felix up on a blind double-date.\nBill Kincaid, head of the Master of Fine Arts acting program at Western Illinois University, is directing "The Odd Couple," his 10th play at the Brown County Playhouse, a theater which helped produce such talents as renowned film actor Kevin Kline.\nKincaid said he guaranteed the play would make people laugh.\nDifferent from university theater, the Brown County Playhouse is able to look for actors outside of the student body and hire seasoned talents. Kincaid said being able to cast experienced actors is one of the reasons he loves to work at the Brown County Playhouse. Goad and Johansen both work for the Department of Theatre and Drama and are no longer students.\n"They are terrific actors who have a lot of other offers," Kincaid said.\nBoth Goad and Johansen both recently performed in the Indiana Repertory Theatre production of "Romeo & Juliet." Johansen was also seen in "Welcome to the Monkey House" at the ShadowApe Theatre Company and Goad in "Take Me Out" at the Phoenix Theatre, of which he is a founding member.\nJoining the leads is a cast of talented veteran actors, including Jonathan Molitor, Carmen Myers and Dave Cole, who all performed in the Brown County Playhouse's run of "Caught in the Net" earlier this season.\nS.G. Stratigos, who was the basketball choreographer and coach to Gene Hackman in the movie "Hoosiers," continuing studies student Emily Lowder Wootten, who was the production assistant for special effects on the movie "Big Fish," and Phil Kasper, founder of Tavern Shakespeare, also appear in this production.\n"The Odd Couple is a staple of American popular theater," Molitor said.