Press Releases

May 25, 2000
Southampton Players Present Neil Simon's "Fools"

Contact:
Darren Johnson
(631) 287 8313
Fax: (631) 283 4081

It's nearly a mission impossible for a schoolteacher. When young Leon Tolchinsky (Chuck Novatka) walks into the 1890s Russian village of Kulyenchikov to answer a help-wanted advertisement, he is taken aback. Because of an ancient curse, everyone in the village is an idiot. Tolchinsky then learns that he will have to break the curse, or become an idiot, too.

In Neil Simon's comedy "Fools," being presented by the Southampton Players, Dr. Zubritsky (Ken McGuire) and his wife Lenya (Vay David) have sent for Tolchinsky so he can educate their daughter, Sophia (Kymme Napoli). At first Tolchinsky balks, but then realizes saving Sophia can save the whole village including himself.

Shows will run Fridays and Saturdays June 16-17 and 23-24 at 8 p.m. in the Avram Theater at Southampton College. Tickets are $12/$8 for students and seniors. Featuring six college students and six community members, "Fools" is the theater troupe's first summer production. One of Simon's most respected plays, it's also one of his least known. "Fools" had a brief run starting in 1981 in New York City's Eugene O'Neill Theatre and hasn?t been staged on Eastern Long Island in several years.

In the comic fable, Tolchinsky learns he must get a Zubritsky to marry a Yousekevitch. The problem is, there is no love, says Slovitch the butcher (Jeff Schaeffer), because a fool cannot know the meaning of love. If Tolchinsky doesn't succeed in his mission within 24 hours, he, too, will become a fool, trapped in Kulyenchikov forever.

Michael Disher is directing. Other cast members include Paul Conroy as Snetsky, the shepherd; Cornelius Redmond as the magistrate; Shelly Pitkin as Mishkin, the mail carrier; Joyce Pitkin as Yenchna, a fishmonger who sells flowers; Carol Sherman, PJ Palladino and Maggie Mariolis as village idiots, and Teague DeLeon as Count Gregor Yousekevitch. If you think the character names sound wild, just imagine experiencing a fire, an adoption, a divorce, a wedding and a death in the family all in one night!