Behind the scenes of The odd couple
by Apoorva Shrivastava
The Odd Couple (Female Edition) rained down on Foothill, bringing a smile to every one of its audience members. The reenactment of Neil Simon’s 1960s comedy follows two divorcées Olive Madison and Florence Unger in their attempts to live together, showing that no matter how close people think they are, they cannot confirm their compatibility until they have tried living under the same roof.
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I met with the cast and crew of the play before one of their six shows. Despite the fact that it was performed phenomenally, the director and stage manager admitted that there were certain difficulties. “Working with the actors [was difficult] - not because of their personalities or anything,” the director Jenny Eichhorn said. “We only had five weeks.” The panel was set up back in May, hoping that the actors would walk in prepared. However, in a separate interview with the cast, it was revealed that few of them had even looked at their scripts! “After summer I forgot who I was playing!” Sarah Hallahan (Sylvie) admitted. Although a common sentiment shared by many, the cast remained optimistic and cohesive. Despite the fact that they only worked together for five weeks, they treated each other as if they were family.
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​For the cast, bringing a 1960s play to life was fun yet challenging. Aarushi Sangem (Mickey) declared,
Jenny Eichorn (left) and Alyssa Orphanopoulos (right) pose for a picture in Foothill MP's sound booth.
“When I first read the script, I was shocked, because I had never done something that was funny before. The parts were similar and a lot of the jokes were old school.” The cast was worried that the jokes and gags would go over the heads of an audience largely made up of high schoolers.
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Audrey Im (Olive Madison) added on that there were so many lines and similar parts in the play, which caused a little bit of confusion and line mix-up.
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The cast admitted that it was difficult to adapt to their character originally, but later felt their characters blending into their personality.
The hard work put in by the cast and crew did not go in vain. All the actors did a wonderful job bringing their characters to life, and the technical crew did a terrific job of setting up the stage and effects despite having only since the beginning of school to do so. I did not regret investing my homework time in the play, and I will look forward to doing so again.
Aidan Riechers (top left), Jared Sigman, Isabella Starkey, Claire McNerny, Joelle Haddad, Georgia Ball (top right)
Geffen Dagai (middle left), Aarushi Sangem, Audrey Im (middle right)
Sarah Hallahan (bottom)