Lost in Yonkers is a play rich with humor and sensitivity, about two brothers, Jay and Artie, who are learning to adapt to whatever life has to throw at them. After their panicked and widowed father leaves them at the home of their domineering grandmother and peculiar aunt to pursue work, the two boys are doomed to live a very strict lifestyle until their amateur gangster uncle appears to stir things up a bit.

Although it is set during WWII, Simon published the play as America was entering the Gulf War in the Middle East, circa 1991. With history repeating itself, the main themes -- including survival, the importance of one’s family and acceptance -- still seem timely. The play is technically a comedy -- the darker material is still handled with Simon’s light, just-funny-enough touch, allowing the audience to laugh their way through things that may be too painful otherwise.

Neil Simon is one of the world’s most successful playwrights. He has had dozens of plays and nearly as many motion pictures produced. He has been showered with more Academy Award and Tony nominations than any other writer, and is the only playwright to have four Broadway productions running simultaneously. His plays have been produced in dozens of languages, and have been blockbuster hits all over the world. In addition to Lost in Yonkers, he was awarded a Best Play Tony Award for The Odd Couple and Biloxi Blues, and has been Tony-nominated more than 15 times in various categories. 

Howard Teichman's (director) career in theatre began at Second City as a writer/creator/performer of a children’s show called Commedia. He toiled many years in the theatre to emerge in Los Angeles as a theatre director of note. Recently, he received an LA Weekly nomination for Best Comedy Director for his Theatre 40 production of Daniel Goldfarb’s Broadway hit Modern Orthodox. Prior to Modern Orthodox, Teichman directed the critically acclaimed Theatre 40 production of Richard Martin Hirsch’s Atonement. He directed Neil Simon’s Rumors to rave reviews at Theatre 40, and in 2005 he wrote, directed and starred in Simcha, an acclaimed production that was chosen as “Pick of the Week” and a "GO." His other directing credits include Howard Teichmann’s The Solid Gold Cadillac, Leon Katz’s The Three Cuckolds, Oscar Wilde’s Salome (Garland Nominee) for Buffalo Nights Theatre Group and Diana Amsterdam’s Fast Girls. Howard adapted and created Orphans of the Storm, the French play by A. Dennery and Eugene Corman.