Okay now, stay with me: Jamie used to be with Eric until Eric realized they were basically incompatible, though Jamie doesn’t understand why. Caleb, unattached, takes up with Jamie, though he feels basically incompatible with everyone. Jamie suspects Caleb is cheating and answers an ad on line seeking a massage while pretending to be Caleb. Bruce actually just wants a massage, because something has prevented him from being the masseur he used to be. Bruce’s favorite clients were Simran and Daniel, who have now broken up, and have less time for Bruce since he stopped giving massage. Simran has discovered Daniel is cheating and in a swiftly co-ordinated move has left, taking lock, stock, and barrel, without notifying Daniel. Daniel dramatically discovers he has been rumpled only after he has brought Caleb home for sex. Down at the STD clinic, Eric meets Simran and suggests that maybe they could be compatible. Is that all perfectly clear?

Such elaborately contorted routes of connection and coincidence might seem to strain credibility if it weren’t so true to the actual complexion of sexual social life in the contemporary gay male community. Arthur Schnitzler penned a play in 1897 which became known as La Ronde, outlining almost precisely this pattern of sexual interaction amongst heterosexual couples of the period. That play became a cause scandale, trespassing on moral codes and class divisions, alluding to uncomfortable issues of sexual and social exploitation, and raising the spector of – shudder to murmur it – sexually transmitted disease.  Published in 1900 that play is now an august 112 years old. Have we come a long way baby, or is Mark-Eugene Garcia‘s (un)missed connections really more of the same?

It can’t be more of the same because, yes, society has in large measure unbuttoned to a degree where none of these events are considered even mildly scandalous. The sexual dalliance of two openly gay men only rarely offers the potential for social embarrassment. Sexual mores, by and large, have moved on from being shocked by infidelity to such a point where its opposite, over a lifetime, is considered more peculiar. And STDs? Well, come on! So what is there left from the bones of Schnitzler’s dramatic premise for playwright Garcia to play with? Only connection; that great human theme – and the part that sex plays in establishing and, more pointedly, undermining it. It’s frankly a big theme, and the burning soul at the heart of both Garcia’s and Schnitzler’s works.

(un)missed connections hardly pays attention to social backgrounds, or even psychological histories. Its characters are all just on the horns of a situation, a situation prompted by sex. More specifically they are men who have a great sense of a missed opportunity, something that could answer the question of who they truly are; something that could show them themselves. In the face of this enduring quest, fragile humanity is characteristically evasive. Skittish, non-committal, these men throw themselves into situations they aren’t adequately prepared for, no matter how steeled they may feel against intimate trespass. Structured into several acts featuring different couples in dialogue, Garcia’s play first offers us Jamie – a soft-hearted, seemingly harmless character, who impulsively tries passing himself off as Caleb. And as a masseur. Not surprisingly, in short order he is exposed as fraudulent and out of his depth. He is lucky in encountering someone like Bruce in this instant, who is a sucker for a truthful sob story. Bruce opens up Jamie about his troubles and ends by giving him the massage, even as his cramped hands protest at their work. This exchange encapsulates the other experiences shown here and, in the spirit of a gentle, comedic humanitarianism, ensures that nobody suffers too severely. Remorse there is, and psychological shadow, but rather generously each character is given a break. Garcia is sharp enough never to suggest anyone’s travails are at an end, and indeed, with a note of poetic realism, most of the men end their scenes hardly wiser than they were when they began. In a clever conceit, any shade of connection that results here, stems from the ability to acknowledge a missed connection. The hamster wheel of desire is driven by the urge to put a face on ourselves, and as only Eric – the “arty” one – can testify, following an encounter with the artist Marina Abramovic‘s “The Artist is Present” installation, facing yourself is hard. Hard!

Garcia keeps this potentially dark matter light, and quite artfully, given all the potential mines and sinkholes. There is, however, something of a sameness in the voices he gives his disparate characters, despite a skillfully selected cast. Perhaps director Rodrigo Bolaños might have tweaked his performers more aggressively to compensate. Other directions that served to suggest a universality to the stories were clever, but unnecessary, and a bit stagey for my taste. The set and lighting effects (Sean Lum) are spare and lean, and effective for it. Jaspal Binning (Simran) and Kyle James Johnson (Jamie) are the most effective at finding distinctive individual voices for their characters. As a thoughtfully crafted dessert, (un)missed connections hones close to the sweet, though never loses sight of the bitter. It won’t make your teeth sing, and won’t leave you with that uncomfortable feeling of too full.

~~~

Related Posts:

• (un)missed connections – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The Taint Of Equality Or, I Want Your Sex (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

(un)missed connections

Benefiting: GLAAD (Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)

Produced/Written by Mark-Eugene Garcia

Directed by Rodrigo Bolanos

“(un)missed connections is a modern drama, a brief glimpse into the lives of eight strangers, brought together through chance – and Craigslist. It’s about being at the right place at the right time, or wrong time. Its about searching, online, in line, next to you, across an empty room, even on a massage table for a moment, for a connection.”

Show Times:

• Wed 6/6/12 @ 9:00pm
• Mon 6/11/12 @ 10:00pm
• Tues 6/12/12 @ 7:00pm
• Sun 6/17/12 @ 10:00pm
• Sun 6/24/12 @ 1:00pm

Answers by Mark-Eugene Garcia

(Playwright)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?

Mark-Eugene:   We actually had quite a few titles. The play is based on missed connections from Craigslist, so I originally gave it that title of Missed Connections. But the play really about isn’t missing the connection as opposed to finding them. After speaking with Rodrigo, our director, we came up with (un)missed connections.

Diánna Martin’s Question
If you were going to invite 5 people (from the past or present) to see your show – who would you invite … and why?

Mark-Eugene:   1- Armistead Maupin- because he is probably one of the biggest influences in my writing. I love his plots. I love his books. I love that, without ever meeting me, he taught me so much about who I am and how to live my life. 2&3- Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty- It was through their music that I figured out that I wanted to write theatre. 4- Randy Brunk- a fantastic actress and mentor I knew who supported me in everything I did, pushed me in my theatrical pursuits and was the inspiration for a short play I wrote. I would LOVE to see what she would say about my endeavors now. 5- Laura Linney- She is amazing, probably my favorite actress, a huge crush of mine, and I constantly seem to be one connection away from her at all times. My friends have met her. Even my ex-friends have met her. I know people she knows…She even signed an autograph for me, through them. But I never have met her. Can someone tell Ms. Linney to come see my show and connect with me?

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?

Mark-Eugene:  I’d have to say that the biggest sacrifice has been most of the nights and weekends out that most others had in their twenties. How I found a partner without being social is a miracle. I’m kind of a homebody. I’d rather be writing, I guess. But considering that the play is opening soon I think the trade off was well worth it.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?

Mark-Eugene:  The play originally had a very different much darker ending. In a past incarnation, a producer made a quick suggestion that perhaps (blank) should happen and (blank) shouldn’t. At first I thought, “Who the hell are you? This goes against what the play stands for and what I want the audience to walk away with.” But then I took a few breaths, swallowed my pride and thought about it. The producer had a point, and so did I. So I took a night, thought about my options, found some happy mediums and I went with the happiest medium. Like what I did there?
(Karen: Yes I do, Mark! Adorbs!)

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?

Mark-Eugene:  I want the audience to take a look around and see who is standing nearby. When I sat at home and began reading the missed connections ads, I noticed something. These weren’t just people looking for sex or love. These were people, all nearby, who were reaching out and searching for some kind of connection. Whatever they saw in an eye wink, a smile, a quick exchange of conversation was what they were looking for. Those missed connections ads tell us as much about the writer as they do of the moment. We all are looking for connections. They can be anywhere. A train, a bedroom, a bar, a restaurant, and hopefully… in a theatre.

___

Planet Connections runs from May 30 – June 24 at The Bleecker Street Theater located at 45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. To purchase tickets to this or any of the shows click here.

Related Posts:

• Bubby’s Shadow: Whose Shadow Is It? (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Scene/Unseen – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Coyote On A Fence – FREE Staged Reading – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)
• Smacker And The Highway – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)