Female Odd Couple heads to Farmington's Totah Theater

The Totah Theater will host a familiar Neil Simon comedy with a new twist, and Farmington’s downtown arts corridor will get another test of whether live theater can still pull people back to Main Street. Theater Ensemble Arts is staging The Odd Couple in its female version at 315 West Main Street, with performances set for 7:30 p.m. April 17, 18, 24 and 25, and a 2:30 p.m. matinee April 26.

Tickets are priced at $14 for adults and $12 for students and seniors, with sales available at the door or by phone. The 120-minute production gives local audiences Florence Unger and Olive Madison in the gender-reversed version Simon adapted in 1985 from the Broadway hit that premiered in 1965.

The cast will feature Milena McCarty as Vera, Saydie Charley as Sylvie, Kelly Charlton as Mickey, Scott Drayer as Manolo and Daniel West as Jesus. TEA Director Chuck Holmes said, “There’s another generation that needs to know about Neil Simon,” adding that Simon is “the Shakespeare of the 20th Century.”

For Farmington, the production matters beyond the stage. Theater Ensemble Arts is a local nonprofit founded in 1997 and listed as a 501(c)(3) that says it exists to provide affordable, quality multicultural live theatrical performances while encouraging youth attendance and participation. Its spring lineup also includes Lend Me a Tenor and Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors, a sign that the company remains active in a county where low-cost cultural events compete with larger metro-area entertainment options.

The Totah itself adds to the draw. Built in 1949, the building was once an Allen family movie house until 1982. It was bought by former Farmington mayor Tom Taylor and his family in 2004 and reopened as a multi-use performance hall in 2006 after renovation. City information places seating at 270, while other venue listings put capacity at roughly 300.

That downtown footprint matters in San Juan County, the fifth-most populated county in New Mexico, where Main Street events can mean more foot traffic for nearby businesses before curtain and after the final bows. Farmington’s downtown arts scene also includes the Farmington Civic Center, but the Totah remains one of the clearest signs that local theater still has a place in the center of town.