This past Friday night I ventured down to the East Village to see Tales of the Perpetually Single But Eternally Optimistic. The three woman show tackles the ins and outs of what it’s like to be dating in your twenties in NYC.
This show is about the trials and tribulations of being single in New York City.The vignettes range from meeting handsome strangers on the subway to painfully awkward Christian Mingle meet ups. Although the show is performed by three talented young ladies, it’s important to mention that they also played the guys. Personally I felt that the actresses’ performances as men were far stronger than their portrayal of the female characters. While I chuckled a handful of times, the script was rather predictable. Each scene proves over and over that dating in NYC simply sucks. I feel as though the entire play follows the same format “guy X is sketchy and I deserve so much better, but at the same time he’s telling me I need to work on something, but I’m not going to listen because he’s a loser and can’t even buy me a drink”. There are no morals to the stories.
I feel like with a bit more experience and perhaps another draft the Tales Of The Perpetually Single but Eternally Optimistic could be something special, but as of right now all it did was rehash some highly forgettable and average experiences of what it’s like to be looking for Mr. Right in the big apple. GCV
Note: While I applaud the actresses for their effort, the true miracle is that none of them passed out while on stage. I was sweating buckets in the audience and I couldn’t even imagine having stage lights on me in the already humid theater.
Written and directed by: Uzunma Udeh
World premiere at The Theater of the New City Dream-up Festival 2014 – ended