Creativity in Community

WILL ROBBINS ’25, DIOCESE OF BEAUMONT

“You dumb ignoramus!” shouted Felix Ungar, played by Nicholas Stellpflug ’25 (Green Bay), to Oscar Madison, played by Alexander Turpin ’26 (Albany), in frustration at Oscar’s mistaking a ladle for a spoon. Delivered in a pivotal moment during the NAC’s production of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, it could easily be a line lobbed at a fellow seminarian in the student kitchen. This year’s NAC Play was a comedy, which focused on the delicate, and often frustrating, dynamics of friends living together. These dynamics are something every seminarian, and every priest, knows all too well.

The Odd Couple is a comedy centered on two recently divorced friends in New York City who move in together to save money. The production navigates the difficulties of two men adapting to life without their wives, trying to adjust to each other’s idiosyncrasies, and working to figure out the meaning of their lives. Though presented as a via negativa of the way man should live, The Odd Couple truly captures and amplifies the intricacies of adult men living in community, an aspect at the heart of seminary life.

Through participating in the creativity gifted to man by God, the cast and crew of the NAC play brought Neil Simon’s 1964 play to Rome for the benefit of the College. Whether in the construction of the mid-century Manhattan apartment for the set or the taking ownership of the individual characters, the NAC community embraced the creative process to bring this social commentary to life. The characters in the play may highlight the hilarity of life in common, but they are miserable men. It is through this via negativa that it becomes evident that the joy in life only comes when

God is at the center. This is the source of joy for the entire NAC community, even when the frustrations of communal life make one think, “You dumb ignoramus!”

The NAC Play is an annual dramatic production that is directed and performed by the seminarians at the Pontifical North American College. It features one closed performance for the College Community and one open performance for the friends of the College in Rome. Above are some of the productions performed by the NAC in previous years.