NeilSimonA Presentation by Hannah McKinney

June 1, 2012

THEAT 319

Dr. Tyler Smith

Brief Biography

Marvin Neil Simon July 4, 1927 – present New York City (The Bronx) Playwright, screenwriter, author Height of Career: 1960s Owner of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre (1968-1982) Simon Theatre

Historical Contexts

Class Middle class prospering

Gender The nuclear family

Specific domestic roles External image

“The American Dream”

Writing Career

Began writing with brother, Danny Simon, for TV Pulitzer Prize (Lost in Yonkers); Tony Awards (20

nominations, 3 wins) Often Compared to: Aristophanes; Moliere; Anton

Chekov; Tennessee Williams (elements of) Writing Influences: Terrence McNally; August Wilson;

Anton Chekov; Tennessee Williams

Simon’s Works "I don't write social and political plays,

because I've always thought the family was the microcosm of what goes on in the world. I write about the small wars that eventually become the big wars." – Neil Simon, The Paris Review 1992

Shared Traits and Characteristics Highly comical Observational Melancholy climate Singular episodic plot lines Themes: respect for the family; conventional moral behavior

(characters are fallible); aware-ness of human limitation All auto-biographical in some way Heavily revised

Simon’s Playwriting Beliefs

His plays are stories with “comedic moments”; they are not comedies

“By the time you know the conflicts, the play is already written.” - Neil Simon, The Paris Review 1992. All answers lie in the foundation of the play (first 15 to 20

minutes)

Revise, revise, REVISE!

Agenda "We're not indecent, we're not unloving, we're

human. That's what we are, human.” - Last of the Red Hot Lovers

To write about the human condition and what challenges it

Neil Simon: “up close the American Dream is vulgarity” Personal: Simon enjoys observing and the writing process To make people laugh To entertain

Comedy: Comic Structures

“I find that what is most poignant is often most funny” – Neil Simon

Dialogue “Recogonizability”

Situational comedy Friction between opposites / Dilemma Fingerprint: moment near the end of the play when a

character “will often explode in a comic summation of events”; “a cascade of irritations”

Comedy (Cont.)

"Life is a comedy to a man who thinks, a tragedy to a man who feels. … To Neil Simon, who thinks and feels, the comic form provides a means to present serious subjects so that audiences may laugh to avoid weeping.”

– Daniel Walden (Professor Emeritus of American Literature at Pennsylvania State University) from “Neil Simon: Toward Act III?”

Characters

Middle class, everyman of the 20th century characters Typically Jewish Self-doubting, self-hating, and “awkward alienated

stance”

Simon’s Dominant Character: “the trapped bourgeois soul who finds that almost everything he yearns for is worthless”

Narrators incorporated in later plays (Brighton Beach Memoirs; Bioloxi Blues; Broadway Bound) Eugene Jerome

Specific Plays to Note:Traditional Simon Comedies

Lost in Yonkers The Odd Couple

Lost in Yonkers

First on Broadway in 1991 Filmed in 1993 Two boys are sent to Yonkers,

New York in 1942 to live with their grandmother and Bella, their childish aunt.

The Odd Couple

First Produced on Broadway in 1965 Revivals: 1985; 2005

Filmed in 1968 (multiple sequels produced)

TV Show from 1970 - 1975 Two divorced men (Felix Ungar and

Oscar Madison) share an apartment but have completely different lifestyles.

An example!OSCAR: I'll tell you exactly what it is. It’s the cooking, cleaning and

crying. It's the talking in your sleep, it's the moose calls that open your ears at two o'clock in the morning. I can't take it anymore, Felix. I'm crackin’ up. Everything you do irritates me. And when you're not here, the things I know you're gonna do when you come in irritate me. You leave me little notes on my pillow. 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. It's not your fault, Felix. It's a rotten combination.

FELIX: I get the picture.

OSCAR: That's just the frame. The picture I haven't even painted yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6VXZzaAX8EQ (starting at 2:28)

Specific Plays to Note:Nontraditional Subject Matter

The Gingerbread Lady First on Broadway in 1970 Film version (Only When I Laugh) in

1981 Recovering alcoholic and former

cabaret singer Evy Meara returns home from rehab only to face the problems of her friends and family.

Dark drama; tragic ending

Simon’s Works Today

Broad appeal and interest Productions of work have been consistent since 1970s Recent Broadway revivals have struggled

Period pieces Change in audience expectations of humor

Historical Significance Variety of work Span of work and involvement with other

prominent actors, writers, and professionals Pioneered and established new forms of

comedy, especially for the stage Established post-war American comedy All post-war American playwrights can be

linked to Simon

Wrote and produced broadly likeable and commercially successful plays that realistically reflected and observed everyday life