Hovey Players kick off their 2016-2017 season with Neil Simon's hilarious comedy Chapter Two

Chapter Two marks the third Neil Simon show produced by Hovey in the past five years including The Odd Couple and Laughter on the 23rd Floor. Chapter Two is directed by William Deschenes of Franklin and is teed up to be another fun evening of theater featuring some familiar actors including Kimberly McClure of Framingham who plays Faye and was last seen on the Hovey stage in David Lindsay Abaire’s Good People and David Lebahn of Somerville plays Leo who appeared in Steven Dietz’s Rocket Man and Jeff Daniel’s Apartment 3A. Allison Rudmann-Putnam of Stoneham plays Jennie and has performed at other theaters throughout the Boston area and Randy Elkinson who plays George is also a local actor new to the Hovey stage.

This semi-autobiographical comedy, based on Neil Simon’s real-life relationship with actress Marsha Mason, mixes laughter with heartache. George Schneider is a recently widowed writer and is encouraged by his younger press agent brother Leo to begin dating and get on with life. Leo and his girlfriend Faye, introduce George to her best friend, the recently divorced soap opera actress Jennie Malone. When the two hit it off, these not so young lovers must each learn to overcome their own emotional fears and trepidation, and try to face a new life together.

About Neil Simon

Neil Simon is an American playwright and screenwriter, and one of the most reliable hit-makers in Broadway history, as well as one of the most performed playwrights in the world. From the mid- Sixties to the mid-Eighties, Simon's name became synonymous in theatre with popular and financial success, much like Spielberg's would later do to film. In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 678 performances. Over the course of his career Neil Simon has garnered seventeen Tony nominations and won three. He has also won the 1991 Pulitzer Prize in drama for Lost in Yonkers.

In 1966 Simon had four shows running on Broadway at the same time: Sweet Charity, Star Spangled Girl, The Odd Couple, and Barefoot in the Park. 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.

CHAPTER TWO runs September 9th – September 23rd.

Buy your tickets online at www.hoveyplayers.com or contact the Hovey box-office 781-893-9171 or email reservations@hoveyplayers.com

Hovey Players

9 Spring Street

Waltham, Mass