Review: Stray Cat Theatre Gives Great Vibrations to Laura Eason's SEX WITH STRANGERS

It is now axiomatic that technology has redefined our concepts and practices of time, communications, and relationships. The vast domains of cyberspace allow for simultaneous visibility and invisibility. On the one hand, you can enjoy constant exposure and define who you are through self-indulgent posts, borrowed quotes, and photos. On the other hand, you can virtually airbrush your persona, hide behind avatars, and create an image that you wish to have but don't.

You can accumulate as many friends as you desire and yet have no friends at all, because, in cyberspace, you are all strangers. In this canvas of digital illusions, you abdicate responsibility for your choices to algorithms. In the era of social media, superficiality and immediacy trump substance and durability.

What happens when you lay down your smartphone, disconnect from the pod, log out of the laptop and come face to face, eye to eye with another soul? Can you converse? Can you reveal the true you? Do you remember the virtual you? Are you a slave to the image that you created but can't now delete?

In SEX WITH STRANGERS, Laura Eason has created a ground zero to test these questions with two characters who are as different as night and day and yet as recognizable as the reflections in our mirrors. It is a profoundly provocative work, rich in word play and dramatic twists, and steaming with relevance.

In a collaborative arrangement with Arizona Theatre Company, Stray Cat Theatre, highly regarded for its edgy productions, is now taking a stab at Ms. Eason's two-person two act play and ~ Hurrah! ~ has scored a direct and palpable hit at the heart of her work. Brilliantly and incisively directed by Ron May, Stray Cat's Founding Artistic Director, the result is a riveting portrait of literary wannabees in a world where the smell and texture of the written page is being displaced by digitalization ~ where authenticity and fraudulence may be two sides of the same coin. His vision is fulfilled by the extraordinary and riveting performances of Heather Lee Harper and Tyler Eglen.

It begins with a question that defines the entirety of the play: "Who are you?"

As Olivia (Harper) is nestled in a bucolic retreat, working on her magnum opus, an unexpected guest appears. Her "Who are you?" equates with "What in the world is someone doing here interrupting my quietude?" Discouraged by the failure of her first novel, this devotee of literature has taken spring break refuge in a quiet haven where she can write, literally, to her heart's content and not that of critics. An interruption is the last thing she needs.

The answer is Ethan (Eglen), a raging electric storm of testosterone and unlimited libido ~ with six pack abs to boot ~ whose seeming purpose is to work on a screenplay. His answer to "who are you?" is that, if you're offline, "then people will think you're dead!" Ethan's literary accomplishments have centered around the chronicles in novel form and the blogosphere of his misogynistic exploits under the pseudonym, Ethan Strange. While he seems interested in estranging himself from this less than noble past, his key to success and independence is a movie based on his exploits. With that under his belt, he might implement his dream of a money-making app that's like Pandora but designed to promote writers. And, just perhaps, Olivia, might be his lucky lady.

Not all is as it seems. Ethan has done his homework on Olivia. He has a relentless and curious desire to read Olivia's book which she holds close to her chest as a sacred personal property. Yet, with every promise of possible artistic redemption and fame, Olivia wavers. With each push and pull between the two, chemistry overrides reason. Sex between these two strangers erupts and binds them in a strange co-dependence. At least, for a while. Because truth will out. And when it does, the next question is, what do you do with it?

Harper and Eglen are a dynamic duo of chemistry and tour de force artistry. As their relationship winds up and unwinds, as the dance of their aspiring selves uncoils, the two draw you deeper and deeper into the magic of their performances. Harper is magnetic, seamlessly shifting moods and unfolding the depth and nuances of her character. Eglen evokes an image of the feral predator, sinuously weaving in and around Olivia.

May has been blessed, thanks to ATC, with a larger stage than he is used to, and he has made the best of it. Combine his astute direction with a magnificent cast and the authenticity of Eric Beeck's sets and you have the Valley of the Sun's first big hit of the Season.

SEX WITH STRANGERS continues its run at the Herberger Theatre in Phoenix through October 11th and then moves to the Temple of Music and Art in Tucson from February 11th to the 21st, 2016.

Photo credit to John Groseclose

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