Neil Simon Readies New Plays 202 and 204 and Rewrites

By Robert Simonson
20 Jan 2006

Neil Simon
Neil Simon
Photo by Aubrey Reuben

Prolific playwright Neil Simon is readying two new plays, 202 and 204 and Rewrites, the New York Post reported.

202 and 204 had a reading with Robert Klein and Marcia Gay Harden last week, the daily said. The work is set in a psychiatric institution, where two patients begin a friendship.

Rewrites—which is a dramatic adaptation of Simon's 1996 memoir "Rewrites," and has been in the works for a couple years—is scheduled for a Jan. 20 reading, the Post said. Matthew Broderick will play the Simon role.

Rewrites is scheduled to play Seattle Rep during the 2006-07 season.

"Rewrites," the book, covered Simon's childhood, his struggles to become a writer and his marriage to his first wife, Joan, who died in the early '70s. It also included memories of such figures as David Merrick, Bob Fosse, Maureen Stapleton, Sid Ceasar, Gwen Verdon and Mike Nichols.

The play would mark a return to Simon's frankly autobiographical mode, the one that produced the highly successful trilogy of Brighton Beach Memoirs, Biloxi Blues and Broadway Bound, as well as the later Lost in Yonkers.

Simon is also reportedly working on a sequel to his play The Sunshine Boys.