Charming new play ‘Fiveplay’ depicts housemates with benefits

The preshow soundtrack bears a distant resemblance to the topic from Buddies. And like that hugely productive Television set sitcom, Erica Smith’s charming new enjoy Fiveplay is set in the shared family of an assortment of idiosyncratic personalities in their twenties. But there the similarity finishes, mainly because the housemates of Fiveplay are all polyamorous, which one particular of them helpfully clarifies early on, in an amusing train-the-audience scene:

AVERY: Polyamory is remaining included in numerous committed interactions at when with — and this is the most important section — the full consent of anyone involved. Also referred to as a type of ethical nonmonogamy. I’m gonna repeat that: Ethical nonmonogamy.

Sometime some sensible Television set producer is heading to notice the zeitgeist is all set for a sitcom primarily based on this provocative premise — what with the heteronormative gender binary on the wane, it’s only a make any difference of time. Potentially that polyamorous reimagining of Mates will be impressed by Fiveplay, who appreciates? In the meantime, there are two far more possibilities subsequent weekend to check out out this inviting exhibit of risk for character-driven polyamorous playmaking.

The challenging point is — as I learned at the quite beginning of the Coil Challenge manufacturing amiably directed by Sean Butler — when the solid of characters is polyamorous, retaining observe of who’s owning relations with whom can get sophisticated. So you will thank me, when you see Fiveplay, for this helpful color-coded diagram.

A person of the most fascinating matters about Fiveplay is what it’s not. There is a lot of situationally proper hugging, kissing, and other informal affection and a good deal of banter about an future special party (a house orgy they phone Fucksgiving), but no garments come off, there are no sex acts, and no person objectifies or entire body-judges any individual else. The actors who pretty capably enjoy the five polyamorous figures — Brianna Goode (as Ray), Eric Jones (as Sawyer), Michael Silver (as Monty), Christine Smith (as Avery), and Rebecca Rose Vassy (a powerful-willed stand out as Emerson) — and the sole character not coupled — Rocky Nunzio (as Keegan) — are living in the instant in their interrelationships as if nothing at all out of the normal is going on. It’s just their preferred day-to-day household, they are refreshingly at ease in it, and the eroticism amongst them can be sweetly funny, as in this exploratory trade (not still diagramed earlier mentioned):

RAY: You are a great man or woman.
SAWYER: Oh. Thank you.
RAY: You… are… also… a… very… foxy person.
SAWYER: I, uh, I guess I’m okay—
RAY: I have a detail for you.
SAWYER: Alright. What is it?
[Beat.]
RAY: What is what?
SAWYER: The thing you have for me.
RAY: Oh geez. Uh.
A crush. For. On you. I have. Indeed. I have a crush on you.
SAWYER: Oh.
Ohhhh.
Wow.
A ton of your recent remarks quickly make a good deal additional feeling.

When throughout the program of the play remarkable conflicts come up, it’s hardly ever about jealousy or betrayal or any stereotype just one may well have about these people’s multiple sexual intercourse-partnering. Instead, it’s tensions and incursions from outside the house — these kinds of as an antique suspected of being haunted, the curtly texted news of a beloved grandfather’s loss of life, the antipathy of offstage parents — all episodes that whilst not particularly earthmoving nonetheless illustrate how the premise of polyamorous housemates could very well be deployed in a pilot.

The audio layout by Sean Butler efficiently implies a rainstorm all through a sequence when a ghost could or could not be existing, at which time the lighting style by Jason Aufdem-Brinke also backlights everyone in an ominous blue. The uncredited established seems to be credibly lived in — a worn sofa, mismatched tables and chairs, satisfaction flags and queer bric-a-brac all about. The uncredited costumes have the fascinating specificity one particular would assume of an intuitive designer’s hand but as an alternative probably came from the director and actors’ apt insights into the figures.

Significant spending budget and polished this production is not. But the ahead-hunting artistic strategy, the intriguing character delineations, and the eyesight of ethical eroticism make Fiveplay well truly worth a vacation to the black box at Capitol Hill Arts Workshop.

Functioning Time: 80 minutes, with no intermission.

Fiveplay runs April 8–9, 15–16, and 22–23, 2022, presented by the Coil Job performing in the black box theater of the Capitol Hill Arts Workshop at 545 7th Road SE, Washington, DC. All displays start out at 8 pm. Tickets ($20) can be purchased online.

COVID Safety: The Capital Hill Workshop involves that viewers users stay masked (N95 or KN95) in community spaces of the creating. CHAW’s entire COVID-19 Safety Protocols are in this article.

Fiveplay
Composed by Erica Smith
Directed by Sean Butler
Developed by Rebecca Fischler

Starring
Brianna Goode as Ray
Eric Jones as Sawyer
Rocky Nunzio as Keegan
Michael Silver as Monty
Christine Smith as Avery
Rebecca Rose Vassy as Emerson

Sound style by Sean Butler
Lights structure by Jason Aufdem-Brinke

SEE ALSO:
The Coil Task to open up ‘Fiveplay’ about modern polyamory (information story)