Return to archive index The Good Doctor
by Neil Simon
Directed by Stephanie Hepburn

Good Doctor Poster

The Sneepe

The Good Doctor is Neil Simon's tribute to Anton Chekhov combining the best of both styles: the dark humor of Chekhov and the one-liner humor of Simon. It has always received mixed reviews from the critics, largely, one suspects, because it represented a divergence from Simon's usual style and we all know that writers are not supposed to grow and develop! The leading character is a writer (Chekhov) whose opening monologue is an amalgam of Simon's own words and those of Tregorin from The Seagull. Only some of the scenes are based on Chekhov stories. Just under half are Simon's own inventions. One, The Audition, was written as a showcase for his wife Marsha Mason. Whitney, Kevin and Angus: The Arrangement

Stephanie's first encounter with The Good Doctor was in 1976 when she directed it as her Master's thesis at the University of Georgia. Since then, she has directed the play in every place she has lived with the only exception of Bristol, England, where she was too busy acting to do much directing. In each of the productions, Jane and Jack: The Defenseless Creature Angus has played the writer. In this, New York version, Whtney Chapman took the young woman's roles and Kevin Benham, the young man's roles. Jane Reibel, who also appeared for us in Gamma Rays, played the character woman and Jack Cooper the charcter man. We brought in Dan Murphy to play the sexton in the all-Simon scene "The Surgery". Danny had worked lights for our very first production, Talley's Folly and was a Senior a Peekskill High School. He had recently done the same role in the school production and had been so good he was invited to reprise the role with us. The only other major deviation from the normal assignment of roles was that Stephanie and Angus took over "Too Late For Happiness", the piece about the old couple on a park bench trying to make contact. Angus and Danny: The Surgery They had wanted to do this scene together for years and at last got the opportunity. The scene is part spoken and part sung to some lovely music by Simon's friend Peter Link.

We staged the show with more of a proscenium arch arrangement than usual, keeping most of the audience across the front to give us more width than we usually get with the three-quarters staging we normally use.



The Good Doctor
by Neil Simon
directed by Stephanie Hepburn


Cast in order of appearance


Act One
The Writer......................
The Sneepe......................

The Governess..................
Surgery.............................
Too Late For Happiness..........
The Seduction...........................

Act Two
The Drowned Man.................
The Audition.....................
A Defenseless Creature........
The Arrangement.................
The Writer...................

Angus Hepburn
Angus Hepburn, Kevin Benham, Whitney Chapman
Jack Cooper, Jane Doniger Reibel
Jane Doniger Reibel, Whitney Chapman
Angus Hepburn, Dan Murphy
Angus Hepburn, Stephanie Hepburn
Angus Hepburn, Kevin Benham, Whitney Chapman


Angus Hepburn, Kevin Benham, Dan Murphy
Angus Hepburn, Whitney Chapman
Jane Doniger Reibel, Jack Cooper, Kevin Benham
Angus Hepburn, Kevin Benham, Whitney Chapman
Angus Hepburn

the setting
Russia
the late Eighteen hundreds.



Production Crew

Director.........................
Producer..........................
Stage Manager....................
Stage Crew.......................
Lights/Sound...........................................
Stephanie Hepburn
Ginny Light
Nancy Saunders
PRT members and PRT acting students
The Paramount Staff

Special thanks to: Kathy Beaver, Fr. Bob Warren and Graymoor, James Hepburn, The Masters School, Ralph Mastromonaco, Milano Tuxedo, Peekskill High School, Kim Sparling, Helen Zurhellen.

The Good Doctor is produced by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.


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Updated 8/19/99 - 16th Street Graphics Copyright © PRT 1999

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