The pleasure, pain and flat-out comedy of newlyweds

Here’s something nearly every couple in the audience can relate to: the passionate and often comical chemistry of honeymooners.

Chances are, with its Valentinesy premiere, there will be more than a few couples in the seats for Western Washington Center for the Arts production of “Barefoot in the Park,” which debuts at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 15 at 521 Bay St. in Port Orchard.

Whether married, divorced or simply going steady, it’s easy for anyone who is or has ever been madly in love to relate with the passionately zealous characters of newlyweds Paul and Corrie Bratter.

And, with a script rife with quips and unsettling situations, it’s even easier to laugh at them.

He’s a straight-laced attorney, she’s a volatile, free-spirited type and their first abode of married life is a comically shotty apartment atop several flights of stairs in Manhattan.

Neil Simon, author of “The Odd Couple,” whom BroadwayWorld.com called Broadway’s most popular playwright, is said to have written “Barefoot” as a valentine to his wife Joan. It was his first Broadway hit in 1963, made into a major motion picture in 1967 and was recently contemporized for a not-so-critically acclaimed revival in 2006.

Now, as a Valentine’s gift to theater-goers in Kitsap, WWCA presents “Barefoot in the Park,” starring Joseph McCoy as Paul and Stephanie Ronge as Corie, directed by Liam Sanchez.

The show will run through March 16 with curtains at 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 5 p.m. Sundays.

For tickets, reservations or more info: visit www.wwca.us or call (360) 769-SHOW.

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