MVHS theater group presents “The Odd Couple”

By WESLIE STRATTON

Moapa Valley Progress

The Moapa Valley High School Theater Department presented Neil Simon’s “The Odd Couple” in the Ron Dalley Theater on April 21-23 last week. Directed by MVHS Drama teacher, Anjie Lee, this play brought smiles and laughter to all who attended.
“It’s mostly about these two friends,” said MVHS junior Rachle Lee who played Olive, one of the play’s two main characters. “One is divorced for a few months now (Olive) and her friend is getting divorced during the story (Florence).”

Lee, who plays Olive, said that the two friends are total opposites with Florence being a “neat freak” and Olive being messy. Her description of the two clashing throughout the production was an understatement.
“It’s really, really funny,” she said. “The struggle between our characters’ personalities.”

In an attempt to help Florence weather the storm of divorce after 14 years of marriage, Olive allows her to move into her apartment that is comfortably messy for the character. Florence’s obsessive compulsive cleanliness creates an ironically toxic environment in the typically filthy space that everyone has come to view as normal and expected. The two argue like an old married couple until their friends stop coming around and they are ready to pull each other’s hair out.

The exceptional cast included longsuffering friends to the roommates Andrea Leavitt as “Mickey”, Cheyenne Harris as “Renee”, Rita Corofiglio as “Vera” and Keely Watkins as “Sylvie”. Playing two Latin brothers, Manolo and Jesus Costazuela, brave enough to take on the conflicted duo were Javan Garber and Jake Garber.

Lee said that the theater department had been rehearsing for the production since late January and that it required hours of hard work both in class and on student’s own time. She said that while the play only had eight characters, the theater tech class had also spent a lot of time on the set.

Lee said that the play is drastically different from any other production she has been a part of while at high school.
“But I think it’s the best script we’ve done,” she said, adding that co-starring with her friend Carlie Evans who played Olive made this play especially fun.
“We’ve been co-starring since middle school so we have great chemistry,” she said.
The two enjoyed playing opposites in the play.
“She’s very centric,” Evans said of her character, Florence. “She always wants everything to be clean. Olive is a slob.”

She said that she enjoyed playing Florence the most when she was freaking out about being clean, a stark contrast to Lee who said she enjoyed not having to care about what she does while playing Olive because she could “just get to be messy.”
“And I don’t have to worry about the consequence of being messy,” Lee said. “I don’t have a mom to tell me to clean my room.”

While their characters differed on cleanliness, both girls agreed that the play was a pleasure to put together.
“It’s just super fun, quick wit and there are a lot of different personalities,” Lee said. “The script is hilarious, the rewrite is just as good as the first one.”
Evans agreed. “I’d say it’s as good as the original,” she said.