Director Andres Alcala
Andy has made Portland
his home for the last seven years. He received a B.F.A degree in Theater
from Southern Oregon State College.
He also worked for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival
as an actor for two seasons.
In 2002 he received a Best Director Drammy award for
Shakespeare's R & J. In 2000 He received an Arizoni Award in Phoenix for
Best Director for Fruit Salad for the Young Playwrights festival. Recent Portland
stage appearances include A.R.T.'s
production of The Laramie Project and Touch.
About The Playwright
Neil Simon is acknowledged by many as the world’s most successful playwright.
He has had dozens of plays and nearly as many major motion pictures produced. He
has been showered with more Academy and Tony nominations than any other writer,
and is the only playwright to have four Broadway productions running simultaneously.
Marvin Neil Simon was born in the Bronx on July 4, 1927, and grew up in
Washington Heights at the northern tip of Manhattan. After a brief stint in the
military, he took a clerical job with Warner Brothers in New York. During this
period he and his brother Danny began writing sketches for Broadway comedy revues such as
Catch a Star (1955) and New Faces of 1956. He was soon noticed by
the radio and newly-emerging television industry. He and his brother were brought
on board the writing teams for programs such as The Phil Silvers
Show and Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows.
Simon received several Emmy Award nominations for his television writing. In
the 1960's he changed his focus to the broadway stage and was rewarded with
an unparalleled string of hits beginning with Come Blow Your Horn.
During the 1966-67 season, Barefoot in the Park, The Odd Couple,
Sweet Charity and The Star Spangled Girl were all running simultaneously.
The early 1970's saw a lull in Simon's career following the death of his wife
of 20 years, Joan Baim. Some time later, he met the actress Marsha Mason, and they were
married. His 1977 play, Chapter Two, dramatizes the grief of a newly
remarried man trying to start over after his wife has died. Chapter Two
was considered by many critics to be one of his finest works to date.
Throughout his long career, Simon has drawn extensively on his own life and
experience. Many of his works take place in the working-class New York
neighborhoods he knew so well as a child. With his autobiographical trilogy,
Brighton Beach Memoirs (1983), Biloxi Blues (1985), and Broadway
Bound (1986), Simon created a touching portrait of an individual, his family,
and the world around them. With these plays, Simon found his greatest critical
acclaim, and for his 1991 follow-up, Lost in Yonkers, Simon was awarded a
Pulitzer Prize.
Sources:
PBS' American Masters Series
Moonstruck Drama Bookstore
Biography.com
The Unofficial Neil Simon Homepage
Director Andres Alcala
