One suite, three couples provide a lot of humor on Perry stage

Comedy abounds on the Perry Players’ stage when three couples stay in room 719 in New York City’s Plaza Hotel.

Neil Simon’s “Plaza Suite,” according to director Don Boyd, was nominated for Best Play Tony Award in 1968 and Maureen Stapleton’s won Best Actress for her portrayal of three different female lead characters. The Plaza Hotel, the location of the suite, is also where Home Alone 2 was filmed.

“It is three little scenes, three little episodes, about three different couples,” Boyd said, explaining that the play is basically a character study about New Yorkers.

In Act 1, the audience is introduced to a couple who are meeting at the hotel for their anniversary. They are having quite a few struggles, including not knowing if they are meeting in the correct room or if it is truly their anniversary date, Boyd said. The two are not particularly close and have been drifting through life, but the wife rented the room in an effort to bring the couple closer together. Unfortunately, her efforts fail dismally, but humor abounds in the process.

In Act 2, Boyd said, a Hollywood producer with three rough marriages under his belt, has invited his high school sweetheart to come to his room, and he tries to “make moves on her,” although she is married. Boyd said the scene is filled with her resisting his advances, although she keeps deciding to stay for 10 more minutes. As the act develops, she becomes inebriated, and at the end of the act, one of the them gets his or her way.

Act 3, is the scene iconic actor Walter Matthau made famous by playing the part of the father, Boyd said. In this scene, a couple is trying to marry off their daughter, who has locked herself in the bathroom. The father ends up going out on the ledge in an effort to try to get her out of bathroom, and he gets drenched by the rain, the window shuts and jams and he has to figure out another way to get back inside.

“(Act 3) is the most hilarious act in the play,” said Tyler Yeomans, who plays three roles in the play. “The husband of the wife is climbing out the window of the hotel trying to get his daughter out. It is raining; birds are flying all over the place … it’s just a wild and crazy time.”

Yeomans said the play, which is set in the 1960s, is geared more toward the older teens and up. He said an intermission will follow Act 2.

“It’s timeless comedy because it deals with the frailties and problems with relationships,” Boyd said. “(Simon’s) writing style is very unique. His plays typically were written as serious plays … and then he went back in and laid the comedy in on top of them.”

This story was originally published April 15, 2017 at 4:19 PM with the headline "One suite, three couples provide a lot of humor on Perry stage."