12th of May 2008 /

Profile presents year of Neil Simon

By Jewish Review

Portland’s Profile Theatre, which each season presents the work of just one playwright, will present a full of season of Neil Simon plays when the curtain goes up on its 12th season next fall.

Profile Theatre Artistic Director Jane Unger made the announcement April 28.

The theater plans to present six Simon plays including four full productions and two staged readings, though Unger cautioned that schedule changes could yet be made.

The season will begin Sept. 28 with a staged reading of “God’s Favorite” next September. This 1974 script tells the biblical story of Job, but is set in Great Neck, Long Island.

If funding objectives are achieved, all five performances of “God’s Favorite” will be presented free of charge, according to Unger.

The first full production is “Fools,” which will open Oct. 15 and run through Nov. 16. “Fools” is set in 1890 in a Russian village that has been struck with a curse of stupidity arising from a centuries-old failed love affair.

“Lost in Yonkers,” which won Simon the Pulitzer Prize, will be presented as a staged reading opening on Nov. 20. The play is a coming-of-age tale about two brothers growing up during World War II.

World War II is the era of the second full production, “Biloxi Blues,” Simon’s 1985 story of six young men at boot camp in Mississippi. The play, the second in a trilogy of autobiographical scripts in which the character Eugene Jerome is at the center of the story, opens Jan. 14, 2009.

“Jake’s Women” will open  March 4, 2009. This 1992 play tells the story of a successful writer faced with the disintegration of his second marriage. Unger called this play “one of Simon’s most intriguing and original plays, and perhaps one that has the most to teach us about writing.”

The run of Simon plays will conclude with “The Sunshine Boys,” opening May 13, 2009. This is the most performed of Simons more than 30 plays. A Valentine to vaudeville, the play tells the story of the comic duo Lewis and Clark and, according to Unger, is “a defining example of Simon’s humor and sensibility."

New to Profile’s 2008-09 season will be a final staged reading in June of a play by the writer who will be featured in the theater’s 2009-10 season.

In selecting Simon for its upcoming season Unger said his plays “are informed by the American optimism of a true Yankee Doodle Dandy and the rich Yiddish humor of Molly Picon.”

In selecting which of Simon’s plays to present Ungar added, “Mr. Simon could keep us in business for the next five years, easily.”

Simon, who was born in the Bronx on the Fourth of July, has received more Academy Award and Tony nominations than any other writer and is the only playwright to have had four Broadway productions running simultaneous. That was in 1966.

Tickets, FlexPasses and subscriptions for Profile Theatre’s 2008-09 season go on sale July 1. They may be purchased by calling 503-242-0080 or visiting www.profiletheatre.org on line.

All performances take place at Theater! Theater!, 3430 SE Belmont Avenue.