Even those who’ve availed themselves of online dating sites or apps (include this writer) may have a difficult time falling in love with #DateMe: An OkCupid Experiment. The initial experimenter is West Coast stand-up comic Robyn Lynne Norris, who created the some-audience-participation production (this writer’s blood ran cold) with Bob Ladewig and Frank Caeti.
Some time ago, Norris (played by Kaitlyn Black) was having trouble finding the man of her dreams. She consulted OKCupid, and if the relationship aid is new to you, no need to look it up. It exists and carries this home-page slogan: Dating Deserves Better.
The temptation, of course, is to read it as: Dating Deserves Better than OKCupid. The further temptation is to extrapolate that audience members—many of whom might actually be looking for that elusive S. O.—deserve better than this farrago, which is proceeded by a warning to “get ready to laugh about love” and follows through with too few of those promised laughs.
Anyway, Norris introduces herself by announcing “My life is awesome” but goes on to say that despite how awesome that life is, she was embarrassed about profiling her very self when she started. Instead, she decided to create phony profiles as a method of discovering what kind of thing elicited responses and shape a profile around those findings. She came up with 35 or so phony profiles.
Along the way, she had some intriguing responses, plenty that included candid, not to say obscene, language. Without acknowledging as much, she also appears to have discovered that dating isn’t necessarily some app-users’ goals. Raunchy hook-ups are.
Whatever the nature of the responses, Norris’ tactic is a form of lying online, which is pervasive, of course, and which many would therefore consider a no-no. She did it anyway without any seeming compunction. And having done it (spoiler: she remains single), she decided she’d run up a show to have some fun with OKCupid and those who look to it for salvation. (Incidentally, in the program’s “Special Thanks” section, OKCupid gets no special thanks.)
For Norris’ satirical entry (original songs with lyrics by Amanda Blake David, Ladewig, Caeti and Norris), Norris comes up with some don’ts, such as abbreviating “you” to “u” and using “your” when “you’re” is meant. She mentions the five required Ps (persistence is one), the three required As (algorithms is one) of going about OKCupid or other computer matchmakers. Such as jdate.com. A JDate couple (Yosi and Judy) in the crowd did raise hands to say they’re together after two and a half years.
Having encouraged ticket buyers to access the show’s app (instructions are dropped into the program, and the occasional staffer assists), she also invites audience members to the stage for various reasons. At one point, the on-stage Robyn asks who among the patrons has had a bad first-dating-app date. When a man and woman are selected from the raised hands, they’re quizzed about their experience.
The performance this writer attended produced an artist who met a man using Agent Orange. (Don’t ask.) After she testified, Robyn and the rest of the cast—Chris Alvarado, Jonathan Gregg, Eric Lockley, Megan Sikora, and Liz Wisan—improvised on the words and experiences mentioned. (N. B.: #DateMe: An OKCupid Experiment is LBGYQ-aware. Couples of almost all mix-and-match varieties figure in.)
Sorry to say that the improvised interludes weren’t especially entertaining. Maybe they would be if in the future the ensemble members were to brush up on their improv skills.
If there’s a saving #DateMe grace (there is), it’s that Black and colleagues give a good show of enjoying themselves at what they’re about—and they’re well backed up by Lorin Latarro’s direction and choreography, David J. Arsenault’s set with two doors that can slam nicely, Vanessa Leuck’s costumes and Sam Hains’ myriad projections.
For much of the time the five supporting plays wear white lab coats in service to the mock-science aspect. Slipping in and out of the coats, they appear as innumerable others substantiating Norris’ questionable dating history. To wit (or to some fleeting wit), they do emerge frequently as weird potential contacts. The strangest, impersonated by Wisan, is a woman who works as a colonial butter churner for a historical presentation. Yet, all the actors look eminently datable, but that isn’t exactly the point. Or is it?
#DateMe: An OkCupid Experiment opened July 21, 2019, at the Westside Theatre and runs through September 8. Tickets and information: datemeshow.com
