Top Ten Reasons Why You Should've Seen "Beyond Therapy" Last Weekend

by Richard Bastuck

This isn’t actually a list of ten things, it’s a review of the show. I was just cleverly alluding to Annie’s article from last week.

Let me start off by saying that if you didn’t see the play or didn’t like it, you need to seriously rethink the way your life is going.

Beyond Therapy was fantastic in every way, and I’m not just saying that. In fact, this particular production of comedic genius and star casting was enough to rival that of Bronxville High School’s production of Noises Off! back in 2005. If you didn’t see that, I’m basically saying that I had to get surgery to remove the pain wrought upon me by constant laughter. It’s all good, though. I won’t sue—it was worth it.

The play, while not student-written, was student-chosen, directed, cast, organized, and everything. The “Peter Royal” in this case was none other than junior Kuba Kierlanczyk, Mr. Royal’s other half. If you know Kuba, you know that he is the antonym of “dull” so he wouldn’t just choose to direct any old play. Instead, he picks the most insane and hysterical ones, because that’s how he works. One should trust that he will never fall short of entertaining mass amounts of people, which should actually have made it obvious that I was going to injure my sides when I sat down to watch the show. Kuba knows how to make people laugh, and as if that wasn’t enough of a selling point, the show was cast perfectly.

Charlie Sorenson and Lauren Harrington portrayed the epitome of dysfunctional couples, a kind of people that love to hate each other in a way that reminded me fondly of Jordan and Dr. Cox from Scrubs. Charlie’s character, Bruce, captured the audience’s attention when he revealed himself to be bisexual and in a relationship with another man, all while trying to look for a woman to marry and have children with. Charlie’s male lover, Bob, was played by none other than George Hider. For George, this was his second time playing a homosexual on stage this year, and he thinks there might be a trend. Justice Kibbe brought his humorous personality to the table as Lauren’s somewhat promiscuous psychiatrist who thoroughly enjoyed… his belt buckles. Needless to say, after stalking Lauren’s character, Prudence, for a long time, it was amusing to see her continue therapy with him. You often ask yourself why he wasn’t in therapy himself.

Annie Massa, playing Bruce’s extremely new-age psychiatrist, Mrs. Wallace (I wondered, ‘Why not Dr. Wallace?’), snagged the metaphorical spotlight almost every time she spoke a line. From calling her patients “porpoises” to convincing Bob it’s okay to shoot people to let his emotions out, Annie perfectly depicted a crazy person whose job it was to help people with their personal problems. Lastly, Jack Begert, though given the relatively small role of the sole waiter in the only restaurant, made every line count thanks to his keen sense of comedic timing.

If I were writing an extensive review, you wouldn’t have the patience to read it. All that you need to know if you didn’t see the show is that Beyond Therapy could have turned all your bad thoughts and unhappy feelings into good feelings and happy thoughts. You had the chance to make yourself smile forever, but you didn’t, so you’re probably miserable deep down inside and you may even have thoughts of hurting things smaller than you. I recommend you seek therapy immediately.

(If you would like a DVD copy of the show contact either Kuba Kierlanczyk or Jack Hutton.)