Editor's pick: Theatre

County talent shines in Neil Simon adaptation

Saturday, June 24 and Saturday, July 8, 8:00 p.m; Sunday, June 25, Sunday, July 2 and Sunday, July 9 at 3:00 p.m. Sullivan County Community College’s Seelig Theatre, Loch Sheldrake. $18 general admission, $15 for seniors, $5 for students with ID. 845/985-7783.

One of Sullivan County’s many unusual grass-roots cultural resources is Big Sky Productions. Founded in 1996 by Carol Montana (the name is a tip of the hat to the state which is her namesake), the production company has mined local talent over the past 10 years to create a variety of highly regarded productions from Pulitzer Prize winners like “Death of a Salesman” to more experimental pieces like last year’s “Exonerated,” based on an off-Broadway production.

This summer, Big Sky, in concert with Sullivan County Community College, has opted for the traditional end of the spectrum, and will present Neil Simon’s “I Ought to Be in Pictures” at the college’s Seelig Theatre.

“I Ought to Be in Pictures,” written in 1980, is often thought of as one of Neil Simon’s more serious comedies. The film version, which came out in 1982, starred Walter Matthau, Ann-Margret and Dinah Manoff, who had won a Tony Award for playing the same part on Broadway.

Herb, a once successful Hollywood scriptwriter, is having a dry spell and his confidence is shaken, though he does find some consolation in his off-and-on sleep-in relationship with Steffy, a movie makeup woman. Then suddenly, Herb is confronted with his distant—and almost forgotten—past, in the person of his teenage daughter, Libby, who’s trekked to Hollywood from Brooklyn where Herb had left wife, daughter and son 16 years earlier.

How they pick up the pieces of a father-daughter relationship, while discovering a great deal about themselves, is a poignant, tender and nevertheless very funny story. The New York Post called it “Terrific. . . sweet, dandy and touching. . . A mature, memorable play that brings joy to the season.”

Big Sky Production’s production of “I Ought to Be in Pictures,” directed by Carol Montana of Grahamsville, features Steve Lavelle of Liberty as Herb, Sommer Johansen of Jeffersonville as Libby and Connie Lescano of Loch Sheldrake as Steffy. Pamela Bright of Napanoch is stage manager, Phil Yacino III of Narrowsburg is the lighting designer and Ken Walter of Grahamsville is the master carpenter.