Unique Visits
Top Ten Reasons to Come See Beyond Therapy This Weekend
It’s student-directed, student-produced, student-conceived, student-rehearsed, student-acted, student-developed, and student-everything-elsed. The director, Kuba Kierlanczyk, is a student. The entire six-person cast and the small but mighty crew are all composed exclusively of students. The entire thing is based on student effort, which is fresh and exciting and most definitely worth seeing. As a supporter of The Echo, surely you, dear reader, can appreciate this point.
2. It’s written by Christopher Durang.
If you know who that is, then you know that that’s reason enough to cough up the reasonable $5 admission fee this Friday or Saturday evening. If you don’t know who that is, then you have even more reason to see this show, but for your benefit I will nonetheless attempt to encapsulate him in one manageable run-on sentence. Mr. Durang is an playwright and actor who has penned a variety of Broadway, off-Broadway, and Obie-winning shows (including, but not limited to, The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Sister Mary Ignatius Explains It All For You, Laughing Wild, Baby With the Bathwater, and of course, Beyond Therapy) and whose outrageous and somewhat cynical sense of humor can make you double over with laughter and think seriously at the same time. He does not disappoint, people.
3. It’s somewhat inappropriate.
There are a few off-color jokes, and some humor based on shock value. Is it so scandalous that you should prevent the theater-loving adults in your life from seeing it? I would say probably not, especially since I’m part of the show and I recognize the fact that as non-students they will have to pay more for admission. But should you maybe sit three rows away from these adults and pretend not to know them when they approach you during intermission? Maybe.
4. The poster art is awesome.
Coco Vonnegut, famous in the Bronxville school community for her artistic mastery and beautiful, diverse poster design portfolio, is responsible for those neat little brown flyers that have been catching your eye in the hallways. In an exclusive interview for The Echo she discussed her inspiration for this design: phrenology. This twentieth century pseudoscience relates to bumps in the human skull, and the discredited idea that those bumps somehow reflect a person’s character. “Phrenology sparked my imagination in designing the poster because its false theories reflect the nature of Beyond Therapy, which is all about crackpot pyschoanalysis and faulty interpretations of other people’s behavior,” said Ms. Vonnegut.
5. It will put all of your most awkward moments to shame.
For anyone who has ever suffered through a particularly embarrassing social faux pas, Beyond Therapy will erase the memory of it completely. The play contains moments so uncomfortable they’ll make you squirm, from men crying at the dinner table to interloping, cantankerous male lovers to eccentric Snoopy doll obsessions, to repeated telephone calls from flamboyant, overbearing mothers.
6. It’s the end of quarter three.
You need to laugh, admit it. All week you’ve toiled endlessly trying to finish a quarter’s worth of coursework for eight classes in a matter of days. This play will be a welcome release from all that.
7. You haven’t been up to the fourth floor in a while.
Though you may not realize it, unless you’re enrolled in a directing class or study hall that meets up there, it’s probably been a long time since you’ve ventured up to the fourth floor of our school building. You may not even remember the black box theater, or Studio B as it’s called, which was renovated a few years ago precisely to facilitate student efforts like this one. You’ll have the chance to enjoy a school performance in a new, more intimate space. You’ll see things in a new way.
8. It’s profound.
Comedy, when it’s really good, not only is fun to watch but also leaves you with some new thing to think about. The over-the-top but oddly charming characters in Beyond Therapy will be sure to make you question your sanity, if the College Board hasn’t already beaten them to it.
9. Discerning theater critic George Hider calls it, objectively, “The most ridiculous, off-the-wall show that you’ll ever fall in love with.”
Do you honestly think he’d say that about any old theatrical performance?
10. It’s this weekend only!
Seriously, don’t miss your opportunity to see this play. Even if you think you’ll really hate it, the thing only runs for about an hour so you have no excuse not to come check it out. The performances are on Friday, April 17th at 7:00 pm and Saturday, April 18th at 6:00 pm. Admission is $5 for students and $10 for adults. See you there…
