Pioneer Theatre Company Presents THE ODD COUPLE, Opening 3/22

Pioneer Theatre Company presents the iconic American comedy The Odd Couple, March 22 through April 6, 2013.

After their thoroughly fed up wives throw them out, sloppy sportswriter Oscar Madison and uptight neat freak Felix Ungar decide to move in together, thinking they'll save on expenses and have a few laughs. It turns out the laughs are on them.

Playing roommates Oscar and Felix are Mark La Mura and Jeff Talbott, respectively.

La Mura has been on Broadway in Aida, Dinner at Eight, Taking Sides and Rockers on Broadway. His off-Broadway credits include The History of JFK Part I, When Ladies Battle, Between Time and Timbuktu and The Rise of Dorothy Hale; first national tours include Aida, Art and Sleuth. He has appeared regionally in such roles as Bluntschli in Arms and the Man, Paul in Barefoot in the Park, and Murray Burns in A Thousand Clowns, and over 50 others. He received an Emmy nomination for his work on All My Children, and other TV and film credits include The Sopranos, 30 Rock, Army Wives, Gossip Girl, Damages, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Diagnosis Murder, Cybil, Matlock, Hunter, L.A. Law, Something Borrowed, City by the Sea, See You in the Morning, Naked in New York, Surprise, The Russia House, Mattie Fresno and the Holiflux Universe, Trinity Goodheart and One Fall. This is his PTC debut.

Talbott appeared on Broadway in Sly Fox and Fortune's Fool, and off-Broadway in Such Good Friends and Home of the Brave. Regionally, he has appeared in Race (as Jack), circle mirror transformation (as Schultz), A Christmas Story (as Ralph), Frost/Nixon (as David Frost), Twelve Angry Men (as Juror #8), and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee (as Vice Principal Panch), among many others. Film and television credits include Julie & Julia, Boardwalk Empire, The Sopranos, all three Law & Orders, One Life to Live and As the World Turns. As a writer, MCC Theater produced Talbott's play The Submission off-Broadway, and it won the Laurents/Hatcher Award and the Outer Critics Circle John Gassner Award. He is a member of off-Broadway's TACT, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, and returns to PTC after playing Father Flynn in the 2007 production of Doubt.

Oscar and Felix's neighbors, the Pigeon sisters Gwendolyn and Cecily, are played by Amy Bodnar and Helen Anker, respectively. Bodnar's recent credits include As Bees in Honey Drown at Cape Playhouse and God of Carnage at Portland Stage. She has starred in musicals on and off Broadway, in world and American premieres, national tours and in regional theaters across the United States and Canada. This is her PTC debut. Anker appeared on Broadway in Neil Simon's Promises, Promises. Regionally, she has appeared at Milwaukee Rep in The 39 Steps, and at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Curtains and Newsies. Originally from the UK, Anker trained at the Royal Ballet School, then Doreen Bird College for Performing Arts. Her West End credits include The Sound of Music, Radio Times, Crazy For You, Cats, Fame, Oklahoma!, Contact, On the Town, Beautiful and Damned, Parade and Candide. This is her PTC debut.

Local actors JOE DEBEVC, KENT HADFIELD, Paul Kiernan and NATHAN SEARS play the four buddies with whom Oscar and Felix regularly play poker. DeBevc returns to PTC after appearing in A View From the Bridge, As You Like It, Richard III and many others. He has also appeared at other theatres throughout Salt Lake.

Hadfield is a member of Chautauqua Conservatory Theater Company under the direction of Michael Kahn and Rebecca Guy. He has been seen in Around the World in 80 Days with Meat & Potato Theatre Company; Dead Man's Cell Phone with Wasatch Theatre Company; Into the Woods with Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre; and in Noises Off, Arsenic and Old Lace, Cash On Delivery, Relative Values and An Inspector Calls with Old Lyric Repertory Company. He returns to PTC after appearing in Twelve Angry Men and The Diary of Anne Frank.

Kiernan has appeared at PTC in many productions including as Caliban in The Tempest, The Diary of Anne Frank, Hamlet and Twelve Angry Men, to name a few. He has also appeared at Salt Lake Acting Company and with Salt Lake Shakespeare, Pennsylvania Shakespeare, The Hangar Theatre in Ithaca, and many others. His TV and film credits include Disney's Luck of the Irish, The Maldonado Miracle, Ice Spiders and the HBO series From the Earth to the Moon.

Sears has performed across the country in many aspects of entertainment. He has appeared with Disney, Universal Studios, Fox-TV, Nickelodeon and a host of other live and on-camera production companies. Favorite roles include Trinculo in The Tempest, Nicely-Nicely in Guys and Dolls, Gary in Noises Off, and various characters in The Dining Room. A Park City resident, this marks his PTC debut.

PTC Artistic Director Karen Azenberg directs the production. In previous seasons as a guest artist, Azenberg directed the regional premiere of Next to Normal, as well as Rent and Miss Saigon. She created the musical staging for the record-breaking 2007 production of LES MISERABLES. Originally from New York, her work there includes Lyrics and Lyricists (92nd St. Y), Blocks (a collaboration with Jonathan Larson), Prom Queens Unchained, and choreography for Richard Greenberg's The Dazzle (Roundabout). Other credits include national tours of Carousel and Brigadoon, Neil Simon's Laughter on the 23rd Floor (Regional Theatre Premiere at Geva), West Side Story (over 15 productions; Dramalogue Award for Outstanding Choreography), A Christmas Memory (Alabama Shakespeare Festival), and Same Time Next Year (Indiana Repertory Theatre). Azenberg is on the board of the New York Musical Theatre Festival and is the President of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

Scenic design is by guest artist Michael Schweikardt. Schweikardt designed the world premiere of the new Duncan Sheik/Kyle Jarrow musical Whisper House at San Diego's Old Globe Theatre. He has created sets for several musicals by Joe Iconis, including Bloodsong of Love at Ars Nova, ReWrite at Urban Stages, The Black Suits at The Public Theater, The Plant That Ate Dirty Socks for TheatreworksUSA, and Things to Ruin at both The Zipper Factory and Second Stage Theatre. Recent credits include Oklahoma! starring Kelli O'Hara and Will Chase celebrating the Oklahoma State Centennial and national and international tours of James Taylor's One Man Band. This is his PTC debut.

BRENDA VAN DER WIEL designs costumes for this production. As costume shop manager for the University of Utah's Theatre Department, Van der Wiel has designed several dozen shows for the Babcock Theatre and the Classical Greek Theatre Festival. She also frequently designs for Salt Lake Acting Company and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. In addition to many other credits at PTC, she has worked with Seattle Opera, Santa Fe Opera and the Utah Shakespeare Festival.

Lighting design is by guest artist Michael GillIAM. Gilliam returns to PTC after designing for Of Mice and Men, Next to Normal, Rent, A Chorus Line and others. His Broadway credits include Brooklyn, Big River and Stand-Up Tragedy. He also designed for the national tours of Brooklyn, Guys and Dolls and Big River.

Hair and makeup design is by PTC resident designer AMANDA FRENCH. Sound design is by PTC resident designer MATTHEW TIBBS.

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