Sex with Strangers: Arizona Theatre Company & Stray Cat Theatre Kick-Off New Season

Monday, September 28, 2015
YabYum Music & Arts

REVIEW HIGHLIGHTS



To kick off the 2015/2016 season the prestigious Arizona Theatre Company joined forces with the provocative Stray Cat Theatre to bring Sex with Strangers to life. The play, which opened last weekend at the Herberger, was a delightfully witty romp through love and literature.



I found the play to be much more thoughtful than I initially expected given the raunchy title. Sex with Strangers addresses contemporary questions of identity and, more specifically, public versus private personas in the digital age. Of course, there’s a lot more funny, sexy time in these two acts than that previous statement suggests.



As a writer (and aspiring novelist) watching the play made me a little too self-conscious at moments. I had to forcibly ignore the sideways glances from my partner when the dialogue hit a little too close to home. Playwright Laura Eason manages to isolate and identify many of the specific anxieties that plague artists with painful nuance.



Thankfully, there were plenty of comedic moments to assuage any awkward embarrassment or painful revelations. Director Ron May did a superb job of maintaining this delicate balance in his rendering of Eason’s work.



Heather Lee Harper and Tyler Eglen take the lead (and only) roles in the play. Sex with Strangers revolves around a relationship that develops between two strangers who find themselves stranded in a cabin on a snowy night. Harper and Eglen navigate the tension of newly emerging love between two people who really don’t know that much about each other with all the playfulness and awkwardness one might expect.



The moments of anguish and aggression that arise in this modern love story find authentic expression through Harper and Eglen.



Sex with Strangers should be added to the schedule of any performing arts aficionado.



And, as this was the opening of the season, the bar has been set high for both the Arizona Theatre Company and Stray Cat Theatre. I expect wonderful things to follow. It looks like both companies have some interesting works to bring to Valley stages.



THIS IS AN ABRIDGED VERSION OF THE ORIGINAL REVIEW - READ IT IN ITS ENTIRETY BELOW

SEX WITH STRANGERS