PCDS’s Odd Couple Production

PCDS’s Odd Couple Production
ZONA Reporter, Frea Mehta, Senior at Phoenix Country Day School, met the four main characters on the set of the school’s production of Neil Simon’s Odd Couple, the original “male” version and the revised “female” version, to discuss the actors experience from the beginning auditions to dress rehearsal leading up to the actual play, which was to take place 2 days after this interview. When readers read this interview, the play would have already been performed.

Cast and subjects of this interview: Justin Corsillo – Junior – playing Oscar.
Alex Swanson – Sophomore – playing Felix. Nicole Burke – Senior – playing Olive. Megan Cathey – Junior – playing Florence.

frea: The play was originally written for two men. What did you think of the rewrite including women? megan: We both know both scripts pretty well. The female version was written twenty years after the original. There are some cool parallels between the two. frea: Was it hard to learn a Neil Simon play considering its so heavily based on dialogue? justin: I think the worst are the poker and Trivial Pursuit games. The queues are taken from action and not from someone’s dialogue. In the first scene, the character Speed is talking during a poker game. My cue to go open the fridge is actually a pause after he stops talking. It’s pretty hard to take a cue from a non-action like a pause. I remember I forgot that like eight times during rehearsal. frea: You can’t really ad lib can you? justin: Mr. Burns talked to us a lot about this. You can’t change lines because a lot of the dialogue is so intertwined. frea: Do you guys feel any special connection to your characters? Do you share any traits? megan: I hope I’m not as neurotic as Florence. I definitely like things organized and in their place and I can get unsettled if things aren’t a certain way. alex: I have a total system in my locker. It’s like my shrine. That’s so Felix. nicole: I’d say I’m connected with Olive. I like pork rinds. My room always has stuff all over the place. I’d say I’m pretty gross. frea: What drew you to acting? alex: I do theater because of the rush I get when I go on stage. frea: What are your past performances? Favorite role? justin: This is definitely one of my favorite roles. I was also Charlie Brown in Charlie Brown last year, which I liked. megan: I think Florence is probably one of my favorite roles. I was in Our Town last year and played Rebecca. nicole: Usually I play a damsel role, which I don’t like as much because I really like comedy. One of my favorite roles was Mulan’s grandma in Mulan the Musical. alex: Being Linus in Charlie Brown last year was so much fun. I was a plate in Be Our Guest and loved the music. FREA: How do you manage your time with acting and all your school work? justin: It’s just like doing sports or another activity and just about everyone at PCDS does something in addition to school. alex: Last year I was in Charlie Brown and on the tennis team at the same time and it was really hard. I didn’t get home until after eight every night. frea: What’s the most moving or impressive play you’ve ever seen? alex: My favorite was a play called Chicken Soup with Barley that I saw this summer in London. It was about a really narrow demographic but it was really good. justin: I used to live on the East Coast so I used to go to Broadway shows a lot. I really liked Hair. I also liked Avenue Q. megan: Last summer I saw How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying with Daniel Radcliffe. It was so good. frea: What did you learn from Mr. Burns in this process? justin: I think Mr. Burns is a great director. He shared his experiences in college when he was in The Glass Menagerie and Of Mice and Men which helped make things real for us. He buckles down and gets us to do our work. megan: I love it when Nichole and I get to work directly with Mr. Burns. He helps so much when it’s just the three of us. He gives up a lot of his time. alex: Felix was a hard character for me to get down. He helped me really understand how to fit the character. nicole: He really cares. He believes in each of us. He helped us individually learning our lines. For me, I had a hard time transitioning from knowing my lines to really being Olive. Mr. Burns kept working with me and told me there would be this weird moment when I would go from knowing the character to being the character. When that happened, I realized just how good he was at directing.
ZONA Reporter, Rae Aaron, Freshman at Phoenix Country Day School, got the chance to talk to Senior Lindsay Coda, who designed and constructed the set for the Odd Couple play.

While watching a play or performance, have you ever wondered who creates the set and costumes? Lindsay Coda, senior at Phoenix Country Day School, knows all about set design, and is the perfect person to ask. She is responsible for the fantastic set for the play Odd Couple that was just performed this fall by a passionate group of high-school students at PCDS, and other works of art. Lindsay has devoted much of her time to art, and has been showing off her skills since she moved to Phoenix from New Jersey in sixth grade. Getting to know Lindsay was an honor, and her talent doesn’t fail to show through in her art.

When did you become interested in art? When I was three–by the time I could hold a crayon. What did you do for the set? I’m part of a stage design independent study, so I created the design set for the play by sketching on some paper. Then I create a scale model of it on the stage. Were you actually building/painting it? Both. We set up flats, and then we paint over it and design/decorate it. Who do you work with? The theater classes help build a lot of the set, but we also had some building days after school—three, four hours, but it’s really fun. How did you get involved? I’m just helping out—I want to be a stage designer when I grow older. I took a course at Emerson this summer, and I just want to continue it. Is stage design your favorite aspect of art? Exactly. With art, I can sometimes get a little bored doing the same style over and over again, but with stage design, you can create a different set for a different play every month. It’s just so interesting. Do you enjoy other types of art, also? I love art! I’m taking an art history class right now, and I just love and appreciate it. I love to draw, paint, everything. Does anyone in your family value art the way you do? My dad is a graphic designer and a photographer. I will be going to the Prescott Chalk It Up, which is a street painting festival. That’s really fun. For my Holocaust studies class, I’m making a play for my final project, allowing me to design the set. What is your favorite/hardest part of the process? I really don’t think there is a hardest part—it’s all just fun for me. My favorite part is the ability to combine English, Art, and History. Those are my favorite classes. Who is your most inspirational person/hero? Mr. Martin, my history teacher. He teaches me so much, and makes me love it so much by inspiring me with my art and my classes. What’s your most prized piece? For stage design, it would be the Holocaust set I’m working on right now. It’s just very deep for me. As for art, I would say my cowboy pastel I did last year. Do you like to get feedback along the way? I like to take pictures as I go along so I can see the progress at each stage, and afterward look back. How many sets have you designed? Two, one in school and one outside of school. I’ve designed costumes three times, though. What is your favorite part of PCDS? The teachers, and the students are fun to hang out with. I love the humor at this school. Do you like to work with other people around? It doesn’t really matter, but I don’t mind if there’s someone to talk to. If you could work with one famous artist, who would it be? Van Gough. French Impression is fantastic. What kind of music do you like to listen to when you work? Country, and I’m persecuted for it! What’s one piece of advice you would give to a beginner artist? Just keep practicing, because you’re not going to get it right away. You’re going to love it once you get into it. How would you describe your experience in art in a few words? Time of my life.