The Prisoner of Second Avenue - A Video Trailer by The Small Town Theatre Company

Neil Simon's "The Prisoner of Second Avenue" premiered on Broadway at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre in 1971 and received a 1972 Tony Award nomination for Best Play.

The story revolves around the escalating problems of a middle-aged couple living on Second Avenue in the Upper East Side of Manhattan. Mel Edison has just lost his job after many years and now has to cope with being unemployed. The action occurs during an intense summer heat wave and a prolonged garbage strike, which just exacerbates Edison's plight to no end as he and his wife Edna deal with noisy neighbors, loud sounds emanating from Manhattan streets, and a robbery during broad daylight. They take their outrage out on each other, as well as the wall shared with two partying stewardesses.

In The New York Times Clive Barnes wrote that "it is the most honestly amusing comedy that Mr. Simon has given us. Walter Kerr wrote "Neil Simon is handsome proof that humor and honesty can be got into bed together."