The Goddamn Couple Down the Hall (Oh…., and Merry Christmas!)

[NoHo Arts District, CA] – The Goddamn Couple Down the Hall (Oh…., and Merry Christmas!) A comedy/mystery, written by Mark Wilding, directed by Charlie Mount and produced by Garry Kluger and Charlie Mount heads to Theatre West November 8-December 15.

About The Goddamn Couple Down the Hall (Oh…., and Merry Christmas!) 

It’s Christmas in Pasadena. And the Woodruff clan is gathering at the condo of elder daughter, Dana. Her fiancé, Chad, is preparing a gourmet feast for the holiday. The guests include Dana’s parents, Jerry and Maureen, as well as her younger sister, Sydney, and her boyfriend, Lance.

What promises to be a beautiful day spent with loved ones gets turned on its head by the goddamn couple down the hall, Lucinda and Kenny, who clearly hate each other, and whose screaming matches – funny and foul-mouthed — can be heard loud and clear by the Woodruffs.

When things down the hall suddenly go quiet, the Woodruffs wonder if that means Kenny and Lucinda have kissed and made up. Or could there be foul play? The family is divided on whether they should investigate. Is it better to let sleeping dogs lie or should they dig in and try to unravel what actually happened between their feuding neighbors? 

Arriving in time for the holiday season, The Goddamn Couple Down The Hall (Oh…and Merry Christmas) serves up a refreshing alternative to the usual Christmas fare. It promises to be a Christmas Day that the Woodruffs – as well as our audience – won’t soon forget! 

The Team

Mark Wilding is the playwright. His play, Our Man in Santiago, had its world premiere at Theatre West in 2021. In 2022, the play went to the AMT Theatre in New York where its two-month Off-Broadway run received rave reviews. Mark is the recipient of a Writers Guild of America award as the writer-producer of Grey’s Anatomy – a series for which he also received two Emmy nominations. His Grey’s Anatomy episode, Where The Boys Are, won the GLAAD Media Award for Outstanding Individual Episode. Mark’s television credits also include Ellen, Jesse, Working, Jake 2.0, Charmed, Private Practice, Scandal, Good Girls, Still Star-Crossed and Promised Land.

Charlie Mount directs. He directed Mark Wilding’s last play, Our Man in Santiago. Also at Theatre West, Charlie directed Beau Bridges and his daughter Emily Bridges in the original production of their play Acting – The First Six Lessons, his own plays Against The Wall and The Leather Apron Club, and his Ovation-nominated production of Waiting For Lefty.  Charlie is the co-artistic director of Arcane Theatreworks and appeared in the title role of their first production, Martians – An Evening With Ray Bradbury, a critically acclaimed multimedia show exploring the heart and mind of the great writer; a show he created with Jeff G. Rack. Charlie is also an accomplished magician and performer regularly at The Magic Castle. 

Set design: Jeff G. Rack. Lighting design: David Johnson. Sound design: Charlie Mount.

The Cast

The cast features Liv Denevi, Presciliana Esparolini, Sam Gregory, Cecil Jennings, Dave Kumar, Hogan Mason, Steve Nevil, and Jill Remez.

About Theatre West

Established in 1962, Theatre West is celebrating its 62nd year as the oldest continually running professional theatre company in the city of Los Angeles. It is a membership collective of actors, playwrights, directors, and technicians. Theatre West’s alumni members include Ray Bradbury, Beau Bridges, Richard Dreyfuss, Sally Field, Betty Garrett, Martin Landau, Lee Meriwether, Jack Nicholson, Carroll O’Connor, Sherwood Schwartz, Joyce Van Patten, and Paul Winfield.  Theatre West has produced more than 300 plays and musicals.  Of these plays, nearly 70% are original works developed in its workshops and many have led to Broadway, regional tours, and feature films including A Bronx Tale by Chazz Palminteri; A Very Brady Musical by Lloyd Schwartz and Hope Juber; Our Man in Santiago by Mark Wilding that transferred to Off-Broadway in the Fall of 2022;  and our co-production of Eisenhower: This Piece of Ground that went to Broadway in 2023. Theatre West is supported in part by The Ahmanson Foundation, California Arts Council, Peter Glenville Foundation, The Green Foundation, Kaplan-Loring Foundation, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors through the Los Angeles County Department of Arts and Culture, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, National Endowment for the Arts, Lloyd E. Rigler-Lawrence E. Deutsch Foundation, Sidney Stern Memorial Trust, Dwight Stuart Youth Fund, and L.A. Parent Magazine.      

Entertaining and educating audiences in the greater Los Angeles area since 1962!