Christopher Durang’s “Beyond Therapy” takes a bad first date and creates an elaborate story from it. The show features Prudence and Bruce who find each other through a personal ad in the newspaper. Their date is a disaster and both go to their therapists for help, who tell them to make a better ad and try again. “It’s all about trying to connect and failing,” said Hatem Adell, senior English major and director of the show.
Prudence and Bruce end up reconnecting through a different personal ad, and realize that they do not hate each other at all, but they might actually like one another. “Therapy is the tying theme,” said Minnie Katzen, junior economics major and stage manager of the show. She continued, “And these are not ordinary therapists.”
The two therapists, Stuart and Charlotte, who are eccentric in their own ways, try to help their patients make this relationship work. “The show is addressing gender roles and sexuality, but also shows how hard it is to date,” Adell said.
Because the show is small, it fits perfectly into the Black Box Theater, claimed Adell. Hoping the show will start a run for more student initiative, the group has not associated themselves with the theater department, Katzen said.
The two met during the production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” performed at UMB last February, and decided to create a group that was 100 percent student-run. “That’s important to us, that it’s all about the students,” Katzen said. “And there are a lot of new actors, with new talent, who haven’t been in any shows before.”
Adell reiterated the sentiments by stating that it is exciting to have new people joining. The show is full of humor and it is relevant, Katzen said. Adell read the show over the summer and loved it, “I was sitting on the subway, actually laughing out loud.”
Katzen agreed, adding that the show engages people of all ages and genders. “You can identify with the characters, being in the dating world, and it appeals to any audience. It’s all very real.”
Adell and Katzen both said they are excited about the performance. “And it’s free, a labor of love,” Adell said. There is a preview for the show on Nov. 1 and performances Nov. 2-5 at 7 p.m. at the Black Box Theater on the third floor of McCormack, room 3618.
