Almaden Resident | 0503 | January 20, 2005

January 20, 2005 San Jose, California Since 2003

Photograph courtesy the Glue Factory

Cohabitation: Steve Dini (Oscar Madison) and Brian Adams (Felix Unger) won't really have to act in the upcoming Sticky Buns production of 'The Odd Couple,' as Dini says the actors' and their respective characters' traits match to a T. Proceeds from the production will go toward building a new Performing Arts Center at Pioneer High School.

'Odd Couple' actors won't have to 'act,' according to the messy one

By Anne Ward Ernst

Sometimes in the world of theater, a part comes along that seems as if it were written specifically for the actor portraying the character.

That may be the case for Steve Dini and Brian Adams who will play Oscar Madison and Felix Unger, respectively, in the upcoming Sticky Buns production of The Odd Couple on Jan 2729.

"We're not really acting," Dini says.

Dini, drama director at Pioneer High School, says he and Adams have known one another for years meeting when they worked together at KICU-TV.

Also pitching in are other Pioneer High School parents Mike Rainville (Murray, the cop), Mike Hanlon (Speed), John Donovan (Roy), Ray Donnelly (Vinnie), Eileen Hobson (Gwen) and JoAn Donnelly (Cicely).

The group is calling itself Sticky Buns, a "small division of the Glue Factory," Dini says. The group is doing the show as a fundraiser for the continuing rebuilding efforts of the Performing Arts Center at Pioneer. The center was destroyed in a November 2003 fire and will undergo an entire rebuilding and enlargement.

Until the new theater is complete--demolition was postponed over the school's holiday break, but no hard date has been set--Dini's drama department has improvised some creative solutions to make sure the shows still go on.

The Odd Couple, for example, is being held at Hoover Middle School's newly remodeled Historic Theater, and other shows produced since the fire have been held on an outdoor stage in Pioneer's quad.

Dini says there's another good reason to see the show beyond pure entertainment or fundraising.

This could be the last local production of The Odd Couple for a while, as there will be a production of The Odd Couple staged on Broadway later this summer starring Matthew Broderick and Nathan Lane. "So the show may be blacked out locally soon," Dini said.

The shows are at 7:30 p.m. Jan. 27, 28 and 29, at the Historic Hoover Theatre at 1635 Park Ave,. San Jose, 95126. Tickets are $10 and can be purchased by contacting Steve Dini at 408.978.8499. Tickets can also be purchased at the door.