YourPlace... or Mine?: Get Real

Life just hasn't been the same since all my Friendster pals moved on to MySpace.  And no doubt by the time I've figured out how to download a tune onto my profile, half the people in my extended network will have switched to Facebook, Xanga or whatever next week's flavor of the month will be.  If you have no idea what I'm talking about, you're probably the type of person whose social live involves getting dressed, leaving your apartment, having face to face contact and (gasp!) just being yourself.

 
YourPlace… or Mine? is inspired primarily by MySpace.com, the most popular of the on-line social network websites, where members post their coolest photos and leave out all embarrassing details when answering questions about their interests, education and favorite TV shows, in hopes to connect with others who are presenting equally selective versions of themselves.  Playwright Kim Moore, who also directed, assembled eight writers (ten others are credited for "additional material") who, according to the show's press material, "created characters and posted their profiles on MySpace.com to see how real users would react and interact with them, and some of the results made their way right into the script."  (I can't help wondering if the users who thought they were connecting with real people were ever told that they were unwittingly contributing to their script and if they were paid for their services.)

The resulting play is best described as thematic sketch comedy with a bit of a plot.  After the death of her brother Jimmy (Hank Widmer), Frankie (Jennifer Strom Smith) discovers he has a profile on YourPlace.com.  ("This is what its come to – when somebody dies someone has to close his YourPlace account.")  But instead of checking out her dead brother's page, she creates her own with the goal of befriending as many members named "Jimmy" as possible, immersing herself where "millions of needy sheep come to stalk each other legally."

 
The remaining thirteen actors serve as living profiles, acting out the information folks have written about themselves.  Generic characters like "stoner", "religious nut" and "librarian by day/dominatrix by night" are pretty much expected, but I'm not sure what to make of the Romanian rocker chicks rapping about reading books.

The young cast certainly plays their broad characters with spunk and energy, whether wildly dancing about, engaging in S&M or partaking in that sure-fire laugh-getter, nipple rubbing.  But though YourPlace… or Mine? is certainly amusing at times, there's a heck of a lot more youthful enthusiasm than funny or insightful material.