| | Published March 18th, 2009
| The Odd Couple: Female Version Opens March 26th at THT
| | By Andrea A. Firth |  | | Town Hall Theater Artistic Director, Clive Worsley, surrounded by the leading ladies for the adult and teen
versions of The Odd Couple: Female Version (from L to R) Sally Clawson (Olive), Louise Fisher (Teen Olive), Eleanor Mason Reinholdt (Florence) Rachel Cook (Teen Florence). Photo by Karen Dunn
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Town Hall Theater's (THT) Artistic Director Clive Worsley has had little time to bask in the tremendous reviews the company received for their recent production of Rabbit Hole. He is deep into rehearsals for Town Hall's next production, The Odd Couple: Female Verison, for which he is directing both adult and teen cast versions. Despite his hectic two-play schedule, Worsley reflected briefly on his time at THT so far. "I feel like the community is receiving me very well. I'm very happy with the comments in the lobby on show nights," he says.
For The Odd Couple: Female Version, Neil Simon's progesterone-driven update to the contemporary classic, Worsley has cast eight adult actors to perform in the mainstage production and eight teen actors who will shadow their adult-actor counterparts through rehearsals and serve as understudies. Worsley, who has a long resume of theater education credentials to match his directing experience, has been looking for ways to bridge THT's teen acting program with the mainstage and saw this collaboration as a way to create that link.
The two casts rehearse together. The teens watch as Worsley gives direction to the adults, and the adults observe the teens at work as well. "The dialogue between the counterparts is tremendous," states Worsley. "I have observed a teen actor deliver a line a certain way that has led me to alter my direction to the adult actor," he explains. "Both casts are gaining something from each other."
In lieu of Oscar Madison's poker games from the original play, the Female Version, set in the 1980's, starts with friends gathered for a game of Trivial Pursuit at the messy apartment of Olive Madison. "We spent an entire rehearsal playing Trivial Pursuit," states Worsley. "The teens did not know how to play the game. They were not even born when the play was written," he adds with a laugh. The play progresses with the late arrival of the recently divorced Florence Unger. Despite their contrary personalities, Olive, the slob, and Florence, the fussbudget, decide to live together leading to hilarious results.
The Odd Couple: Female Version will open on the mainstage at Town Hall Theater on March 26th and run through April 25th. Teen cast performances will be on Wednesday, April 15th at 7 p.m. and Saturday, April 18th at 2 p.m. Tickets may be purchased online (www.thtc.org/tickets) or by calling 283-1557.
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Lamorinda Weekly, Moraga CA