NEIL SIMON'S

THE ODD COUPLE

JULY 30 and 31 at 7:30 p.m.

August 1 at 1 p.m.

August 2 at 3 p.m.

Paper Warehouse Theater

at the RSJ Community Arts Center

825 Main St, Hattiesburg, MS 39401

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There is something deeply comforting about hearing an audience laugh together. Not the little chuckle people give while scrolling through a phone. Real laughter, the kind that rolls through a room, bounces off the walls, and reminds us that for a couple of hours, life can simply be fun.

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That is the enduring magic of The Odd Couple, the legendary American comedy from playwright Neil Simon that has been making audiences laugh for more than sixty years. And this summer, that classic comedy arrives in one of the Pine Belt’s most intimate and charming theatrical spaces as Hub City Players presents The Odd Couple July 30–August 2 at Paper Warehouse Theatre.

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The timing feels especially fitting.

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As communities across the country celebrate America 250 and reflect on the stories, traditions, and cultural touchstones that helped shape the nation, few theatrical works feel more distinctly American than The Odd Couple. It is fast-talking, heartfelt, imperfect, emotional, and hilariously human. It is a portrait of friendship and frustration wrapped in some of the sharpest comedy ever written.

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Since premiering on Broadway in 1965, the play has become woven into American popular culture. The Odd Couplemovie brought the story to cinemas with the iconic pairing of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau, while the beloved The Odd Couple TV show transformed Oscar Madison and Felix Unger into household names. Generations have recognized themselves in the messy sportswriter and the neurotic clean freak forced to share an apartment who somehow, against all odds, become family.

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That staying power is no accident. Simon’s comedy works because underneath the punchlines is something genuine: the idea that friendship can survive even our most maddening differences. And perhaps America could use a little of that right now.

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Unlike massive touring venues where audiences sit hundreds of feet away, the cozy performance space inside the Rebecca Stark Johnson Community Arts Center places audiences right inside Oscar and Felix’s apartment. Every exasperated glance, every muttered insult, every comic meltdown lands just a few feet away. In a comedy built on timing and chemistry, that closeness matters.

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Making his Hub City Players directorial debut is one of the region’s favorite theatrical talents, Joe Van Zandt. The iconic leading man of numerous productions since his youth, the Purvis math-debate-theatre-teaching powerhouse is the perfect choice to help this timeless classic. Leading the production are two familiar local talents. Nolan Lee stars as the slovenly Oscar Madison, while Landon Morrow takes on the famously fussy Felix Unger. Both performers have become recognizable faces to area theatre audiences through many previous Hub City Players productions, including the wildly successful The Play That Goes Wrong, where Lee and Morrow demonstrated the kind of precise comedic instincts essential for Simon’s rapid-fire dialogue. 

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Hub City Players has built a devoted following by pairing high production quality with an unmistakable sense of heart. Just coming off the spectacular Disney’s Newsies to open FestivalSouth, the company has earned acclaim for multiple award-winning productions ranging from Steel Magnolias, Little Shop of Horrors, and Disney’s Beauty and the Beast. But comedy has always been one of the company’s strongest suits. The Odd Couple feels tailor-made for their blend of warmth, wit, and audience connection.

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And really, what better way to celebrate American storytelling than with a classic comedy in a packed theatre full of laughing people? Long before streaming services and viral videos, American theatre gave audiences characters they quoted for decades. Oscar and Felix belong in that pantheon. They are as recognizable as Lucy and Ricky, Abbott and Costello, or Archie and Edith, comic opposites somehow teaching us about ourselves.

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So, this summer, as America celebrates 250 years of history, perhaps the best tribute is not only fireworks and speeches but also gathering for something timeless: a great American play, performed live, in a room full of neighbors.

The poker table is set. Felix is probably cleaning it already.

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All that’s missing is a full house. Get YOUR tickets now!