May 16, 2008
Editor’s Note: NewCastleNOW.org asked Greeley Theatre Company director Chris Schraufnagel for the inside scoop on the edible parts of the spring play, “The Odd Couple.”
Q: In the opening scene of the play, Oscar offers his poker friends sandwiches from a fridge that hasn’t been working now for a couple of weeks. He has two kinds: brown and green. Were they fake?
A: I actually made those myself before every show. The brown sandwiches were just wheat bread and peanut butter, whilst the green sandwiches were made of mint jelly, and white bread with green food coloring to look like mold.
Q: In the second act, now that Felix has moved in, the sandwiches have undergone an upgrade. Two poker playing characters find them delicious. Were they real?
A: Pete Gonzales, who played Vinnie, one of the poker players, actually bought those sandwiches himself from Lange’s Little Store for each rehearsal and show because he wanted them to be authentic. Unfortunately, at the last show, the deli did not have pumpernickel bread and Pete had to settle for rye.
Q: Does the script specify what kind of sandwiches they have to be?
A. Yes, Neil Simon was very clear about what kind of food is used in the play. The only thing I changed was potato chips to pretzels in the opening scene, because I found a wonderful pretzel tin from the time period that I wanted to use in the set decoration.
Q: What about the pickle Oscar throws across stage, smashing it against the wall of the apartment, was that real?
A: The pickles were real, and in fact the rest of them are still in my refrigerator in my office. And Matt Krakaur actually did eat it after it was thrown across the room and landed on the floor.
Q: And the linguine that is thrown across the room and lands in the kitchen?
A: For all of the rehearsals and the last show, Joann Moskowitz, our prop guru, actually made the pasta, in addition to procuring all the other food. But because she was working on opening night, we had to order a plate of linguini with garlic and oil from Pizza Station. It’s a shame that most of it ended up on the floor. I had a couple bites of it before the show and it was delicious!
Q: Who cleaned it up afterwards?
A: The stage crew swept and vacuumed the floor before and after every performance due to the use of real food.
The use of food in theatre
Q: Did you decide that it should be real food?
A: Eating is a fantastic acting activity, and I love to use it onstage. It just makes the events onstage appear as if they are taking place in real time, as part of the characters everyday lives. If you think about it, so much of our time is spent eating, and eating while we do other things. As I write this, I am also snacking on left over whole grain macaroni and cheese with broccoli that I made over the weekend. It’s what we do!
Eating and food also lend themselves nicely to certain emotional states. For example, in the scene that Elsa Obus and Ali Goldberg were in, the script dictates that there should be a bowl of cashews and a bowl of potato chips in the space, but it was my idea to have them stuff their faces before Oscar’s entrance from the kitchen. It just made sense, because one crutch that human beings tend to go to when upset is food. Since Felix succeeds in severely depressing the two girls, the bowls of snacks seemed a logical choice.
Q: Is the use of real food a matter of course in theatre?
A: Not always. Some playwrights are very specific, but a lot of the time is left to the director and the actors to find their own acting activities.
Q: Did you allow or advise using good sandwiches for them because they’re first-time actors, whereas seasoned actors would have been expected to make do with cardboard?
A: Oh no, the more real you can make those props, without spending a crazy amount of money, helps any actor—seasoned or not—more easily accept the given certain circumstances in their dramatic imagination.
Q: What was the liquid that Oscar and others consumed during the play?
A. It certainly wasn’t real alcohol. If anyone had as many glasses of scotch as Ted Caywood did in the first scene alone, they would have been incapacitated for the rest of the play! The vodka was water, the scotch was white grape juice, and the beer was cream soda. The sodas, Coke and Root Beer, were actually Coca-Cola and Stewarts Root Beer.
Q: What’s the most food-packed play you’ve ever seen, directed, acted in, heard of?
A: I think “The Odd Couple” is the most food packed play I have ever directed, but certainly not the most I have ever seen. I remember when they did the revival of ‘Night Mother on Broadway and Edie Falco and Barbara Blethen were not only eating, but preparing the foods they were eating on stage, clearly requiring running water, a stove, etc. These were great acting activities that served the text and were impressive to watch on stage.
Q: And was the food in “The Odd Couple” delicious or lousy?
A: The food was actually quite good. Setting up for the show every night, I enjoyed snacking on it!
Copyright 2008 NewCastleNOW.org