Director's Note & Press Release: Jake's Women

This is the director's note from my second show with Houghton College, Neil Simon's Jake's Women.  Working on this show was a great experience.  This is the kind of show I love to do.

     As soon as I started reading the script for Jake’s Women I was hooked.  It was such a unique setting and intriguing premise that I couldn’t put it down until I knew how it would resolve.

     Jake’s Women takes a humorous but honest look at the difficulty of relationships.  Jake comes to realize that in order to have successful ones you need patience, trust, forgiveness and so much more.  When the reality of that sets in he turns to his imagination for support.  Therein lies the complexity of Neil Simon’s script.  It’s important to remember that many of the characters we meet are merely Jake’s mental interpretation of them.  It’s when Jake’s women stop playing along that the fun really begins.

     I’ve been lucky to work with such a wonderful cast & crew.  Special thanks to Rachel, my student director, for all of her hard work.  Whether it was reading scripts, selling ads, finding costumes or helping in rehearsals she was always game to dive in.  Anyway, I hope you enjoy the show as much as I have.     –Nic


Here is the press release that went out to the local papers.

Houghton College Presents Neil Simon’s Jake’s Women

           

In Neil Simon’s clever comedy, Jake’s Women, a successful novelist (Eric Mikols) struggles with his tragic past and tumultuous present.  The distractions of his writing career coupled with his tendency to veer off in imaginary conversations with the women in his life threaten to unravel his flawed marriage.  When Jake’s current wife, Maggie (Jillian Parsons), finally walks out on him he turns to the imaginary versions of his deceased first wife, daughter, therapist and kid sister to help put the pieces back together and win her back.  He soon discovers that reorganizing his priorities and letting go of the past are easier said than done. With the clock ticking, can he get it together and reunite with Maggie before it’s too late?  Is that even what he still wants? 

Find out Thursday, Friday or Saturday March 4-6 at 7:00pm (with a 2:00pm matinee on Saturday) in the Tysinger Auditorium, Houghton Academy (9790 Thayer Street, Houghton, NY).  With questions or ticket requests please contact director Nic Gunning at (585) 567-9613 or Nicolas.Gunning05@houghton.edu.  Tickets cost $5.00.

You can also tune in to a special episode of the All the Books show podcast where Eric and I discuss the Neil Simon catalog.