Nancy Dryden has stage managed over 120 productions over the past 24 years. Her work with Soulpepper goes back to our second season in 1999 with The Play's the Thing. Nancy also teaches stage management at Ryerson University.

Soulpepper
What is your biggest challenge as a stage manager approaching a show like The Odd Couple?

Nancy Dryden
Rehearsals are going very well however it's a much shorter rehearsal period than usual because it's a remount - although we have two new actresses playing the Pigeon sisters and three new stage managers who don't know the show. So our challenge as a stage management team is to take the paperwork from the previous production in 2008 and look through it and try to learn everything about the show as quickly as possible. Because the team that did it the original run was really good it makes our job a lot easier. The show is just full of props. There are poker games, meals, and the general messiness of Oscar's apartment - there's a lot to keep track of and manage!

SP

What is your biggest joy coming to a show like The Odd Couple? What keeps you showing up to the rehearsal hall every day?

ND

It's a great script; it's really well constructed, really funny - and the joy that our actors have on stage together is something that the audience definitely picks up. It's infectious. It fills up the rehearsal hall and I know that it's going to translate to the audience in performance.

SP
This production features a number of founding members and Soulpepper veterans. Do you find that getting a group of actors together who know each other so well makes it easier or harder to keep things running smoothly? Have there been any shenanigans in the rehearsal hall?

ND
It's funny because they've all known each other for, say, 20 years or so and I've known them for just as long. I'm one of the old stage managers in Canada; I think this is my 32nd show with Soulpepper! When it comes to prompting an actor you don't know, you have to learn their rhythms, when they're pausing, when they need help. With this group, I know them. I know the look in their eye when they have no idea what the next line is! So I can just jump in and it's easier. Now the shenanigans have been going on for as long as I've known them all. Albert and Diego love to try and crack each other up! The first production I did with Albert was a one-man show called The Two-Headed Roommate. Coincidently in that play Albert had a messy roommate from hell, and in The Odd Couple he is messy and has a neat roommate from hell!

SP

This is a show about two mismatched roommates. Can you recall a roommate you've had in your life that reminds you of Felix or Oscar?

ND

I actually had a roommate once who was a combination of both Felix and Oscar. He cleaned, but didn't really know how to clean. So for example, he would use Windex to clean my cherry wood dining room table! He was at least trying to help but at the same time ruined my furniture. That was my nightmare roommate!

SP

Like you mentioned earlier, you've been involved with over 30 productions with Soulpepper, going all the way back to the 1999 season. What is it about this company that keeps you coming back?

ND

Soulpepper is the place to come to for all the plays that you never get to do anywhere else. Very few companies are doing Chekhov, for example. I just love the classics - the Chekhovs, the Ibsens, etc. - plays that I discovered in university. And I get to do them here with a company that is just amazing. Everyone cares deeply about the work that they do and they have a great time doing it. I'm sure everyone's talked about the "family" of Soulpepper, there's this ease in the rehearsal hall where everyone knows one another - they know how they work, how they think.  The two weeks of the "getting to know you" process in the rehearsal hall at other companies - we don't have to do that here. We can start right away with the work, which is really exciting because you get to delve deeper. I think the performances are better because of that closeness and it is a privilege to watch unfold right before my eyes!