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2nd Flight makes it real
The back story to 2nd Flight’s production of Neil LaBute’s “Some Girl(s),” now on stage at the Cramer Center Theatre in Manassas, seems more like fiction than the storyline of the play.
Director Susan Devine was attending an event at the National Press Club in November when she caught sight of a young man she thought would be perfect for the lead. When she heard his voice, she said, she knew she had to have him for her show.
Not knowing if he possessed any theater background at all, Devine approached Nathan Havey, a staffer on Capitol Hill, only to find out he’d been a theater major in college. She invited him to audition for “Some Girl(s),” where he proved, as she expected, that he was the one.
On stage, Havey in the role of Guy has been “the one” for many women. Guy decides to visit five of his past loves in the weeks before he ties the knot with his fiancee, whom he pitifully refers to as "some girl." He arranges brief encounters with all five in hotel rooms in Seattle, Chicago, Boston and Los Angeles.
Guy's reasons for looking up his exes are complex, and self-serving, and troubling. But most of all, his reasons are real, and the emotions he stirs up are almost too real – so real you feel yourself squirming in your seat.
The next minute you're laughing because the play is funny, too. Havey's antics really carry the show. His clumsy, apologetic attempts to get at the truth of those five failed relationships are at once disarming and painful – almost "Seinfeld"-esque in the way his foot-in-mouth gaffes put him in deeper trouble. Is Guy – who happens to be a fiction writer – a snake or just a nice guy hopelessly trying to get "the honesty thing" right? He is a jerk or an idiot?
The reactions he elicits from the women are real, too. All are curious enough about his intentions to agree to a meeting, but soon find it's not so much a torch that they still carry around for him, but rather anger – and it's still smoldering.
Sarah Bever, Herndon High School's theatre director, plays Bobbi, the girl from Guy's L.A. past. She's forceful, commanding and unrelenting as she settles her score with Guy.
Donna Naybor as Lindsay, the older woman from Guy's college days, brings wit and zest to an encounter that borders on the pathetic.
2nd Flight's production is the regional debut of "Some Girl(s)." The play closed just last spring on Broadway, where it starred Eric McCormack ("Will & Grace"), Fran Drescher ("The Nanny"), Maura Tierney ("E.R."), Judy Reyes ("Scrubs") and Brooke Smith ("Grey's Anatomy").
If Guy's reasons for his quest are to purge the mistakes of his past and maybe learn something, he gets it wrong – oh, so wrong. But happily Havey gets it oh, so right.
Making it reel
2nd Flight deserves extra points for its promotional trailer for "Some Girl(s)," something Devine decided to try for the first time. You can watch it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjSr_E8Ktws
For tickets, visit http://2ndflightproductions.com. Sexual innuendos, profanity and mature themes make this a show for adults only.
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