Blind 'Date': TheatreSquared aims to charm with premiere production
Posted on Friday, May 12, 2006
URL: http://www.nwanews.com/nwat/WhatsUp/40543/
Although TheatreSquared's first offering is a bunch of "Bad Dates," the company hopes that for audiences, it will be love at first sight.
The play, a one-woman show that begins a three-week run May 19 at the Walton Arts Center's black-box theater in Nadine Baum Studios, marks the professional theater outfit's first season operating in Northwest Arkansas. Organized by five friends, the company, called T2 for short, fills a need in the area for local drama and a place for professionals to act, design or direct, said Amy Herzberg, T2's associate artistic director and director of "Bad Dates."
"Bad Dates" stars Fayetteville native Rebecca Harris as Haley, a middle-aged mother who is struggling to find love after being divorced for seven years and starting a new life in New York City. After going on dates with a string of unsuited suitors, she returns to employ the audience as her confidants, relating what went wrong.
Haley has an out-of-control obsession with footwear -- 600-plus pairs make up her collection -- and the show begins with her chatting about which shoes to wear on her date. The scene immediately established her relationship with the audience and illustrates her need for a human connection, Herzberg said. The shoes are also symbolic, representing what Haley goes through in weeding out potential partners.
"As she tries on all these different shoes, it's very similar to trying on these different men," she said. "The fit is not quite right, or 'Gosh, this hurts' ... or, 'I love this shoe, but I can't walk a mile in it.'"
For those not interested in such girly preoccupations, "Bad Dates" includes enough humor to balance the feminine factor. Haley's banter with male audience members is especially comedic, Herzberg said, and as such, the play's run has been extended in nearly every theater it has been performed in. The play, which opened off-Broadway in 2003, was written by Theresa Rebeck, whose writing credits also include "NYPD Blue," "Law & Order" and other television shows as well as some of Herzberg's favorite plays, she said.
"It's really funny, and it's extremely touching," she said. "It has this sort of great sweetness to it and this feeling that says, 'Yes, go out there and make connections.' I've never directed a one-person show, but there is something about the intimacy of being brought into this person's world and this person's heart that is just completely captivating."
Herzberg met Harris, the play's star, after teaching her in one of her first theater classes at Trinity University in San Antonio. In love with her hometown, the young actress piqued her teacher's interest in Northwest Arkansas, and Herzberg applied at the University of Arkansas soon afterward. Although the drama professor developed an affinity for the area as well, she was distressed that the theater professionals she trained at the UA had nowhere to work locally, she said. After discovering that a few of her friends felt the same, TheatreSquared was born.
"We haven't had a professional theater in this area that was a homegrown, home-producing theater," Herzberg said. "I just want this to be the most vibrant thing it can be."
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'BAD DATES'
When: 8 p.m. May 19-20, 25-27 and June 1-3; 2 p.m. May 21, 28 and June 4
Where: Studio Theater, Nadine Baum Studios, West and Spring streets, Fayetteville
Tickets: $18-$22; available by calling 571-2728
* The play contains adult subject matter and is recommended for ages 16 and older. For details, visit www.theatresquared.org.