Relationships get the old college try in a new one-man theatrical production on campus in July.
In “A Guy’s Tale,” writer/actor Adam Bergeron and director Bryan Cohen, both recent graduates of UNC, examine the male perspective on the ins and outs of intimacy between men and women.
The production is the first by Cohen’s up-start theater group, the Cap & Gown Theater Company, whose goal is to break “college theater” out of college and show the rest of the world the kind of energy and creativity that can fuel a college production, Cohen said.
Built around a sensitive, every-man character named Mike, “A Guy’s Tale” examines its protagonist from the inception of a new relationship through to its demise.
The play offers 13 meditative monologues, each addressing some aspect of sex and relationships from the perspective of “the guy.” Though the production eschews machismo, Cohen said, it touches on everything from drunken hook-ups to the male affinity for pornography.
The show transitions between each section with audio recordings of “on-the-street” interviews that Cohen conducted with local citizens.
In each “Real Sex” -esque interview, an unidentified bystander answers a question about some aspect of relationships (for example, “How does one come to understand women?”) Each recording serves as an introduction to the topic and themes that will be addressed in the monologue that follows.
Cohen said the interviews would add even more relevance for a local audience to a subject that he thinks everyone should explore.
Bergeron started writing the show about two years ago after reading a friend’s away message on AOL Instant Messenger in which a girl proudly referred to herself and her friends as “sluts.”
