The Prairie Ridge theater department presents The Good Doctor by Neil Simon this weekend on Friday and Saturday at 7:00. Tickets can be purchased at the door.

$5 – Students & Seniors | $7 – Adults | Free with an activity pass

The Good Doctor is a play based on the works of Anton Checkov, the Russian author and playwright. We see the characters of his books and plays come alive as he tells us their stories. In the first scene we meet The Writer, who is suffering from writer’s block. He brings us into his world, and serves as narrator for, and periodically a participant in, the following scenes:

The Sneeze:
A government clerk over-apologizes and has a nervous breakdown after accidentally sneezing on a general during a night out at the opera.

The Governess:
A mother attempts to cheat her children’s governess out of her pay by making up offenses and damages for which the governess must “compensate.”

Surgery:
A sexton visits the dentist complaining of a toothache, but the dentist’s zeal for his profession begins to frighten his patient.

Too Late for Happiness:
An older man and woman contemplate making time for each other in song.

The Seduction:
A renowned seducer of married women sets his sights on his good friend’s wife, using his friend as an unwitting accomplice in the ploy.

The Drowned Man:
An entrepreneurial tramp pretends to drown himself to make money, calling what he does “maritime entertainment.”

The Audition:
A young, inexperienced, amateur actress auditions for The Writer for a role in his most recent play. Characters – The Writer, Girl (inexperienced and earnest, though in the end a very talented actress).

A Defenseless Creature:
A woman with a nervous disorder harasses an ill banker to extort money for her injured husband.

The Arrangement:
In flashback, the Writer’s father takes his shy 19-year-old son to a brothel to make him a man.

A Quiet War:
Two retired military leaders, one Army, one Navy, engage in a war of words over what would make the best lunch.