Jack Alouf (Vinnie)
Jack has been involved in the entertainment field for over 40 years, beginning with stand-up comedy in Saskatchewan in the early '60s. He was instrumental in founding the Shuswap Theatre in Salmon Arm in 1976 and performed in many productions from Oedipus to Plaza Suite, throughout the North Okanagan. Jack met his wife and partner Eileen while playing the lead in Not Now Darling at the Powerhouse Theatre in Vernon. Together they formed the Alouf & Trett Comedy Cabaret in 1985 and during the next 20 years toured with their show all over BC and Alberta, performed for eight winter seasons in Arizona, taking a break in the early '90s to do some film and television work with Vancouver's Hollywood North. Now settled in Nanaimo, Jack has played the dame in two Bailey Studio's pantos and performed in several local productions. He received best supporting actor awards three times at Theatre BC's Zone Festivals, in 1985, 2004 and 2006.

Floyd Blades (Roy)
Floyd has previously appeared at Western Edge Theatre in the New Waves Festival staged reading of Death by Association. Local audiences may also know him for his appearances at the Nanaimo Theatre Group and in Good Night Desdemona, Good Morning Juliet, directed by Frank Moher, at Yellowpoint Drama Group.

Nicole Busby (Cecily Pigeon)
Nicole has previously been seen at Western Edge Theatre in productions of Boston Marriage, How I Learned to Drive, Shakespeare's Will, and most recently in the world premiere of Night of Shooting Stars. She is also well-known to Nanaimo-area audiences for her appearances at Chemainus Theatre (The Miser), Vancouver Island University (Dark of the Moon), and the Gabriola Theatre Centre (Intimate Exchanges, Absent Friends, among others). Nicole has trained at York University, the Stanislavsky Summer School in Cambridge, Mass., the Gabriola Theatre Centre, Nanaimo's Spotlight Academy, and the Vancouver Island University Theatre Dept.

Maureen Cusack (Gwendolyn Pigeon)
Having only moved to Nanaimo just over a year ago, Maureen is very impressed with the amount of talent, effort, enthusiasm, and support that the people Of Nanaimo offer arts and culture. Although Maureen is no stranger to the boards, this is her first production with Western Edge Theatre. You may have caught her performance this season with Nanaimo Theatre Group in George Bernard Shaw's Arms and the Man or, if your theatre experiences have ventured as far south as Victoria over the last 30 years, she has been in several productions with Victoria Theatre Guild, Peninsula Players, and Theatre Inconnu. Her most rewarding role to date, and one she'll never likely forget, was her first attempt at Shakespeare as Lady Macbeth with the Victoria Shakespeare Society in 2006. It's the classics she prefers and Neil Simon has certainly delivered a few of those! So many plays, so little time . . .

Darren Keltie (Speed)
Darren is a long time member of the island's acting community and has performed in close to forty plays. He's appeared as everything from Einstein and Jesus to petty thieves and porn dealers. In recent years he has been seen in Look, No Hans in Qualicum and in Talker's Town and Hippies and Bolsheviks at Western Edge.

Dave Kilbank (Murray)
This is Dave's first production with Western Edge, but he's no stranger to local theatre. He's appeared in over 10 shows with Nanaimo Theatre Group, including The Graduate in 2006 and The Affections of May, for which he won Best Male Actor at Theatre BC's North Island Zone Festival in 2003. Dave is also involved with the Nanaimo Songwriters' Circle, and has produced three CDs of original music.

Frank Moher (Director)
Frank is the Artistic Producer of Western Edge Theatre. Previous productions for the company include Supreme Dream, The Mercy Seat, Some Random City, Tuesdays With Morrie, Boston Marriage, John and Jen, Sugar Daddies, Screen Play, and numerous staged readings for the New Waves Festival. Other theatres at which he has directed include the National Arts Centre, The Banff Centre, and TheatreOne. Also a playwright, his plays have been seen across North America and abroad. Frank teaches in the Department of Creative Writing and Journalism at Vancouver Island University.

Neil Simon (Playwright)
Neil Simon was born in The Bronx, New York City to Irving and Mamie Simon where, after attending De Witt Clinton High School, he briefly attended New York University from 1944 - 1945 and The University of Denver from 1945 - 1946. Two years later, he quit his job as a mailroom clerk in the Warner Brothers offices in Manhattan to write radio and television scripts with his brother Danny Simon, including a tutelage under radio comedy legend Goodman Ace when Ace ran a short-lived writing workshop for CBS. Their revues for Camp Tamiment in Pennsylvania in the early 1950s caught the attention of Sid Caesar, who hired the duo for his popular TV comedy series Your Show of Shows. Simon later incorporated their experiences into his play Laughter on the 23rd Floor. His work won him two Emmy Award nominations and the appreciation of Phil Silvers, who hired him to write for his eponymous sitcom in 1959.

In 1961, Simon's first Broadway play, Come Blow Your Horn, opened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, where it ran for 678 performances. Six weeks after its closing, his second production, the musical Little Me opened to mixed reviews. Although it failed to attract a large audience, it earned Simon his first Tony Award nomination. Overall, he has garnered 17 Tony nominations and won three. He has also won a Pulitzer Prize in drama for Lost In Yonkers.

In 1966 Simon had four shows running on Broadway at the same time: Sweet Charity, Star Spangled Girl, The Odd Couple, and Barefoot in the Park. His portfolio also includes the darker, more autobiographical works Chapter Two and the Eugene Trilogy, made up of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues, and Broadway Bound, and books for the musical comedies Sweet Charity and Promises, Promises.

He has also written screenplay for more than twenty films. These include adaptations of his own plays as well as original work, including The Out-of-Towners, Murder by Death and The Goodbye Girl. He has received four Best Screenplay Academy Award nominations.

Simon has been conferred with two honoris causa degrees; a Doctor of Humane Letters from Hofstra University; and a Doctor of Laws from Williams College.

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