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| Michelle (Potter) couldn't keep her hands off Nick and Vince! / Truman Buffett |
Back in my teens and twenties, my shrink tried to get me to join Group Therapy, so I tried it once and realized it just wasn't for me. It wasn't crazy as the antics of the fact I couldn't find any type of the characters from the 'Bob Newhart Show', it was just that you could never talk or get any word in. I did much better when it was one on one and latter a very small group of 4 or 5. (Less than 6).
“Seven Ways to Get There,” a new play (Directed by John Langs) debuting at Seattle's ACT Theatre, was about group therapy with one or two many loons in a Therapy Group. What I discovered was there were either all sides of me or all the different types of men I have dated through the years.
But poking fun at dysfunction and caricaturing the therapeutic experience is not all co-authors Dwayne J. Clark (whose experiences inspired the play) and Bryan Willis have set out to do.
We have Anthony (Darragh Kennan) the Bully; Mark (Bradford Farwell) the Artist; Nick (James DeVita); the Workaholic; Mel, the only African American member (Bob Williams; the shy supportive friend; Vince (Ty Boice) the sex addict; Peter (Charles Legget) the social/quiet conservative, and Richard (Jim Lapan), the loud talkative Buffoon. They all have their hangups and refuse to work together.
In the first act, “Seven Ways to Get There” gets off to a running start. The whirlwind first scene introduces us to each client as they cycle through the office of Michelle (Kirsten Potter), their pretty, compassionate, tough-minded psychologist.She charges $175 to be in a group, outrageous.
Michelle is tough with the group, by placing the rule of no social time with group members but is vulnerable when comes to the Sexy, leather-clad, Vince. (anyone would, Boice, is the youngest and sexiest of the group)!
When we meet Richard, he puts on Charlene's "I've Never Been to Me" and begin to lip sync and we wonder if he is gay, but it is later confirmed he has a wife. When Richard is the target of Anthony's bullying he wants Anthony banned from the group.
However, the FAB, and 2nd Best looking, DeVita’s overbearing Nick has focused on the group as a business and sets out to make changes and develops outside kin ships with Mel and Vince.
The performances at the end are remarkable and just proves the smaller the group, the more you can do and be there for each other. Now I all need is to find ONE Man that is a little each of the SEVEN.
Seven Ways to get There Continues Through March 15th at ACT, Click Here for Tix!
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