‘My First Time’
Continues through April 29 at Beck Center for the Arts, 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. For tickets, $12 to $31, call 216-521-2540 or visit beckcenter.org.
The Beck Center’s tiny Studio Theater, sequestered to the far back corner of the performing-arts facility catty-corner to the men’s bathroom, is the place where subversive works like “Evil Dead: The Musical” are staged.
And now, with Beck’s production of “My First Time,” you can add “naughty” to the type of Studio Theater offerings.
With tens of thousands of postings on the MyFirstTime.com website as its fodder, Ken Davenport’s play consists of four actors on stools doing a staged reading of people’s short- and long-form tales about when, where and how they lost their virginities.
A few delicate details from the audience, shared by survey at the start of the show, are also read aloud and flashed on a huge video screen to help fill out the show’s overly ambitious 80-minute running time.
“My First Time” is a cross between Eve Ensler’s “The Vagina Monologues” without the political agenda and Penthouse Forum without the explicit details. There’s plenty of narrative foreplay, some post-coital comedy, a few mildly poignant moments about date rape, and — unless you’re 14 years old and find all this fascinating and educational — no shortage of tedium.
To set the mood before the show begins and to help break up the monotony between scenes, a superb selection of sex-themed oldies by Marvin Gaye, Madonna, Rod Stewart, Donna Summer and others fill the air.
All this is served up by the very affable Heidi Harris, Miguel Osbourne, Chris Richards and Victoria Zajac under the direction of Scott Spence, all of whom handle the sensitive subject matter with grace and without judgement. This is not a master class in acting, but there’s merit in keeping a straight face, picking up countless cues and selling this show to an audience.
‘My First Time’
Continues through April 29 at Beck Center for the Arts, 17801 Detroit Ave., Lakewood. For tickets, $12 to $31, call 216-521-2540 or visit beckcenter.org.
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