Simon farce deals with traditional dilemma of identity crisis

NICEVILLE - The ability to ad-lib usually serves an actor well, unless he gets caught in a time warp.
Such was the case during a recent rehearsal of the 1960s-set Neil Simon comedy, "Come Blow Your Horn," at Northwest Florida State College.
Director Clint Mahle tells the story: "We had an incident in rehearsal where an actor forgot a line and ad-libbed.   "He told another character to 'chill out.' I had to tell him that 'chill out' wasn't a term in use in 1961.   "I had to double-check with the actor playing the father. He actually remembers those years. I was only 1 at the time," said with a smile.
Despite a few instances of dated language, however, Mahle said the overall plot is "quite universal."
"Simon seems to deal quite a bit with identity crisis and this play is no different. The two brothers, Alan and Buddy, are trying to gain their inde-pendence from an overbear-ing father and to find their own way.   "You see this in 'Barefoot in the Park' with the married couple finding a mutual iden-tity. It is in 'I Ought to be in Pictures,' where a father and daughter reconnect after many years and discover themselves in their new re-spective roles.    "I don't know if this is a preoccupation with Simon, but it does make for great com-edy. So, I haven't had a prob-lem getting the actors to relate to the characters as long as they can relate to the issues of the play."
The college's Division of Humanities, Fine and Per-forming Arts opened the farcical romp Wednesday night and will continue with shows at 7:30 each evening through Saturday at the Sprint Theater at the Mattie Kelly Arts Center.
 Tickets are $15 for adults and $10 for youth age 18 and younger at the box office in-person, by phone at 729-6000, or online at mattiekel-lyartscenter.org.
Tickets at the door, on a space-available basis, will be sold starting at 6 each night of the show and are the same price as advance tickets.   The Broadway hit play later became a hit movie starring Frank Sinatra.   "Actually, I haven't seen the movie," Mahle said. "I tend to stay away from movie versions in order to avoid undue influence. I do not favor recreating something that has been done before.   "My preference is to create something unique with the group of people I have and with the contributions they can bring to the production. This is what keeps me going as a theater artist. It also would enable me to enjoy doing a show more than once."
Mahle advised Joseph Bishop of Navarre, who plays Alan, to do likewise.
"I told him not to watch the movie and, if he did, not to bring Frank Sinatra to re-hearsal. There was only one Frank Sinatra. All copies would just be a pale and bad imitation.   "Therefore, he needed to treat the role as if the play had never been done before. Incidentally, that is how I ap-proach all the plays I direct. My hope is that, maybe, I can bring a freshness to it."
In the play Alan Baker, a 30ish swinging bachelor with time, money and women to spare, welcomes rebellious and eager 21-year-old brother, Buddy, into his den of iniquity while their horrified parents can only watch and pray.   The rest of the cast are: Jesse Fryery of Mary Esther as Buddy; Ron Altman of Niceville as their father; Chel-sea Sorenson of Shalimar as Buddy's girlfriend, Peggy; Charity Barger of Fort Walton Beach as Alan's favorite girlfriend, Connie; and Sheila Johnson of Crestview as Alan's mother.   Mahle explained what drew him to choose "Come Blow Your Horn" for the college's spring production:
"Simply put, I love Neil Simon. It is good clean fun. It is smart humor for smart people, but can be goofy as well. It is extremely difficult to do well.   "It is a wonderful learning experience for the actors involved because of the preci-sion of the comedy. They learn, at least, my philosophy of precision of timing, set-ups of punchlines, pacing, etc. If you study the script close enough and listen to the rhythm of Simon's writing, you can feel how the play moves.   "One of the first things I told the actors at auditions was that I approach Neil Simon almost like a science with an eye toward fun. I try to stay true to what I can inter-pret as Simon's intent through his writing. It works. That is proven by his success."   Some of Simon's work is thought to have a semi-autobiographical touch.
"Which character in 'Come Blow Your Horn' might most be like the playwright, Neil Simon? Maybe the audience can pick him out," Mahle said.   The play runs about two hours with one 15-minute intermission.
The Sprint Theater is the smaller of two theater venues at the Mattie Kelly Arts Cen-ter. The college is at 100 Col-lege Blvd.