Reston Players Opens Neil Simon Comedy CHAPTER TWO 4/25 - 5/10

Reston Players concludes its 47th season with Neil Simon's sparkling comedy, Chapter Two, opening April 25 at Reston CenterStage. In Simon's semi-autobiographical comedy, George, a recent widower is having a hard time handling the dating game. After being set up on a series of wildly unsuccessful blind dates, his younger brother, Leo, introduces him to a "keeper" . . . but Jennie has her own hesitation about dipping her toes into the dating pool again.

Jeff Breslow plays widower George Schneider and Lori Brooks is Jeannie Malone. They are set up by Greg Lang as Leo Schneider and Kristin Poling as Faye Medwick.

Breslow, who has won Washington Area Theatre Community Honors for his work as both actor and director, plays the recently widowed George. "Neil Simon, of course, is one of the great writers of the American theatre," Breslow said. "This play has some really witty dialogue and some really clever scenes, and it's really well set up."

Lang, who is known to Washington audiences for his work on stage and screen, said Chapter Two teaches about love and loss and how hard it is to move on when tragedy occurs. "It's about a lot more than just what's on the surface," Lang said. Leo is the comic relief. He's the womanizer who appears to care about nobody but himself. He's always thinking about himself. But He's not as self-absorbed as everyone thinks he is, even though he doesn't really let that show."

Poling, who plays the floundering soap opera actress Faye Medwick, noted, "I think there's so much intelligence and wit within the humor and the drama of what is happening within Chapter Two. It's interesting and it's fun."

Brooks, an engineer by day who performs with DC metropolitan area theaters as her avocation, plays Jennie, who is dipping her toes back into the dating pool after a failed relationship. "It's rare to find really good female characters in stage plays nowadays, and Jennie and Faye really hold their own in equality to their male counterparts," Brooks said. "One thing Chapter Two does really well is explore what happens in relationships after the infatuation wears off when love has to become more of an action instead of just an emotion."

Chapter Two is directed by Adam Konowe. It is produced by Bea and Jerry Morse. Performances begin April 25. Chapter Two will play at CenterStage April 25 and 26 and May 2, 3, 9, and 10 at 8:00 p.m., with a 2:00 p.m. matinee on May 4.

All Reston Players mainstage productions are performed at CenterStage at the Reston Community Center, 2310 Colts Neck Road, Reston, Va. CenterStage is handicap accessible and offers listening devices for the hearing impaired.

Tickets can be purchased through www.restonplayers.org or by calling the CenterStage box office at 703-476-4500 x 3.