For Immediate Release

Onstage at Theatre Three: The Odd Couple Playing April 12 -- May 13

Onstage at Theatre Three: The Odd Couple (Dallas, Texas) Theatre Three’s Mainstage Season of the 2006 – 2007 season continues with Neil Simon’s classic comedy, The Odd Couple. Theatre Three’s forty-sixth season features captivating dramas, exciting and innovative musicals, and hilarious comedies that celebrate the underdogs of society who fight back and make audiences stand up and cheer their efforts. The Odd Couple begins previews on Thursday, April 12, 2007 and will close on Sunday, May 13, 2007. “I told you a hundred times, I can’t stand little notes on my pillow. ‘We’re all out of Corn Flakes. F.U.’ It took me three hours to figure out that F.U. was Felix Ungar.” – Oscar in The Odd Couple Felix Ungar is late for his poker game and his friends are getting worried. When he does arrive at Oscar Madison’s extraordinarily messy apartment, this meticulous man has tragic news: his marriage is over. Oscar knows what Felix is going through: he is divorced. Oscar urges Felix to move into his large, if not sloppy, apartment. It seems like a perfect situation for both men: Oscar is attempting save some money to consistently pay alimony and Felix needs the extra emotional support of a live-in friend as he begins his new single life. The two men are, however, are as mismatched as roommates as they were in marriage and soon hilarious chaos ensues. The Odd Couple was inspired by Neil Simon’s brother as he went through his own divorce. Danny Simon attempted to write it himself, but later handed it off to his brother. Originally produced on Broadway, the show was directed by Mike Nichols and starred Art Carney and Walter Matthau. The show won several Tony Awards including Best Play. In 1968, The Odd Couple was made into a film (also written by Neil Simon) starring Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau. The popular script evolved into a television series that aired from 1970 – 1975 and starred Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Many other spin-offs of the concept became popular and widely produced, including a female version of the situation that Simon created. To show his gratitude, Neil Simon pays his brother 10% of all earnings from The Odd Couple and its spin-offs. About The Playwright: Neil Simon Neil Simon is one of the most reliable hitmakers in Broadway history, as well as one of the most performed playwrights in the world. Simon briefly attended New York University in 1946. Two years later, he quit his job as a mailroom clerk in the Warner Brothers offices in Manhattan to write radio and television scripts with his brother Danny Simon. Their revues for Camp Tamiment in Pennsylvania in the early 1950s caught the attention of Sid Caesar, who hired the duo for his popular TV comedy series Your Show of Shows. (Simon later incorporated their experiences into his play Laughter on the 23rd Floor.) His work won him two Emmy Award nominations and the appreciation of Phil Silvers, who hired him to write for his eponymous sitcom in 1959. In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 677 performances. Six weeks after its closing, his second production, the musical Little Me (starring former boss Caesar), opened to mixed reviews. Although it failed to attract a large audience, it earned Simon his first Tony Award nomination. Overall, he has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. He has also won a Pulitzer Prize in drama for Lost In Yonkers. His prolific output includes light comedies (Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple), darker, more autobiographical works (Chapter Two, the Eugene Trilogy comprised of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound) and books for musical comedies (Sweet Charity, Promises, Promises). He has also written screenplays for over 20 films. These include adaptations of his own plays as well as original work, including The Out-of-Towners, Murder by Death and The Goodbye Girl. He has received four Best Screenplay Academy Award nominations. Simon has an honorary L.H.D. degree from Hofstra University and an honorary D.H.C. degree from Williams College. He is the owner of the Eugene O'Neill Theatre as well as the namesake of another Broadway house. About Theatre Three: Theatre Three was founded in 1961 by Norma Young, Jac Alder, Esther Ragland, and Robert Dracup with a clear mission: To PRODUCE a wide range of literature for the state, ILLUMINATE the ideas and emotions the author intends to express, SUPPORT the preservation and growth of the spoken and written word, CREATE a workplace where area theatre artists can realize their potential, PROMOTE theatre as an experience for all peoples, and SERVE the immediate and larger community with good theatre art.

For Further Information Contact: To Contact Theatre Three: By post: 2800 Routh Street, Suite 168, Dallas, Texas 75201 By phone: 214-871-3300 By fax: 214-871-3139 By email: admin@theatre3dallas.com By web: www.theatre3dallas.com