The Female Odd Couple by Neil Simon is a great comedy. But not a farce. He did not write it as a farce. He wrote Rumors as a farce. Not The Odd Couple. That's just a comedy.
At least it wasn't a farce until fifteen minutes into Act 1 on Saturday, 15 November 2025 on the Kennedy Stage. At which point it became glorious farce. If The Play That Goes Wrong had not already been written, I'd be penning Odd Couple Goes Wrong.
Mounting the first show in five years using only the kids who signed up for class was a struggle from day one. With no judgement, the schedule would not allow upper level IB kids to enroll. In the eight person class I had : one severe mental health issue who stopped coming to class in October, three IEP's--one with severe anger issues, one with a reading level at sixth grade and one with anxiety, two who were also in sports, one kid who couldn't come to class on Thursdays due to his concurrent enrollment college classes and one who was also in choir and band. Three of the eight were also in choir, but one kid only had choir and band--no IEP, no mental health issues or sports.
No judgement. But this mix meant that I had to cast two of the roles from outside of class, causing more anxiety for actors in the class trying to learn lines. Mounting the first show in five years, with kids who cannot rehearse after school, and cast members in three different classes seems like it would be enough of an obstacle. It was not enough: add reading defecits, anxiety, anger management issues and serious memorization impediments and the stumbling blocks become mountains.
In other words:the kids had to not only learn Neil Simon banter, but had to prepare for at least one ( the truth was two)of their cast mates going up on her lines more than once.
So the stress was high, and I was not taking bets on IF they'd go up. It was happening at rehearsals. Once "Sylvie" exited the apartment a page early. I said "So that could happen. What're you going to do?"
Let's not forget our intrepid IEP Anxiety ridden first time stage manager. I just said "When they freeze and go quiet, ring the phone or the doorbell."
The Friday show went better than they deserved. A few minor hitches and skipped lines, but nothing impacting entrances, phone calls or exits. The stage manager, a kid with high anxiety and a heartbreaking desire to do everything correctly, had been prepped by me to simply ring the doorbell or the phone if the Trivial Pursuit game went silent. He was ready, but was not needed on Friday.
Saturday however...something went hideodeously wrong. "Sylvie" had proven herself despite her sixth grade reading level, completely capable of memorization. Listening for cues, and knowing it was her cue was the challenge for which everyone was prepped. "Vinny"---because I had an extra guy in the class, so "Vera" revereted back to the male version "Vinny" who decieded his character was gay--would beat himself up when he missed a line. Struggling to keep the anger issues at bay, he was not always successful. In rehearsals when he would miss a line, or say it in the wrong place, and stop and look at me in the audience. No amount of shouting"You CANNOT GO SILENT AND BREAK THE FOURTH WALL", notegiving, whispering one on one or coaching seemed to sink in. He would freeze and cuss under his breath. Becuase I told him if he dropped an F bomb on my stage he'd never do a show again. So at least he dropped the Fuck Volume.
So. Saturday. "Olive" is the only kid on stage with any experience --from junior high--and struggles with lines but for the most part stays on track. The storyline at the top of Act 1 is told in banter, fracturing the narrative between three phone calls to tell the audience that Florence is missing and has stated she's going to kill herself. On Cue, the doorbell rings and there she is- as Olive states "Of course, where's the best place to kill yourself? With your friends." This line is a good 20 minutes into Act 1.
On Saturday, Sylvie skipped at least one line. Maybe two. Usually "Renee" would hop in to save her, as she was prepped when she joined the cast from another class that her job was to make sure she knew Sylvie's lines as well. But for some reason, she also missed it. There was silence. Then Vinny said a line from a full page forward, and everyone went silent again. Vinny then started chanting "fuck fuck fuck" under his breath as he paced around the table. Sylvie tried to help by throwing a line closer to where they'd lost the thread only to have Renee say a line two pages later. Olive, trying to at least figure out where they were, anchored with a line about Florence missing. Which meant they'd skipped a phone call. At this point the SM is apoplexic trying to decide if he should ring the phone or the doorbell. The panic continued, as each character tried to throw a line in that made sense, when Olive said "Of course, where's the best place to kill yourself? With your friends."
But the doorbell had not rung, and there had been no mention of Florence going out to kill herself. The actors froze. The SM did exactly as he should have. He heard the cue so he rang the doorbell, and crossed his fingers that Florence would be at the door when it opened.
She was.
There are much worse things that could've gone wrong. Everything these kids know about theatre they've learned in three months. Many mistakes are worse. Honestly, they kept going No Mattter What and the audience was not aware of the glitch. Unless they were also present on Friday, and knew the missing lines.
I was in the lobby when the drama unfolded. I returned at Florence's entrance. The SM immediately descended upon me in paniced whispers "Ok, so here's what went wrong." I shook my head and smiled. I whispered back "Is anyone dead?" He shook his head. "Is anything on fire?" Again, negative. "Then it doesn't matter. The show goes on. You're fine."
And that was how I knew the curse really was lifted.
Long Live Jambi.
