TheatreSquared Presents 'Bad Dates'
Last updated Thursday, May 18, 2006 10:15 PM CDT in Entertainment
By Amy M. Cotham
The Morning News
FAYETTEVILLE -- Rebecca Harris is happily engaged and hasn't had too many bad dates in her life, she says. But the actress can appreciate the humor in "Bad Dates," the one-woman show produced by new Fayetteville theater company TheatreSquared.
"Of course I've had a few bad dates," Harris says. "It's universal."
Harris stars in the TheatreSquared production as Haley, a divorced mother navigating the New York dating scene. A Fayetteville native now living in Pittsburgh, Harris has acted off-Broadway, in regional theaters around the country, in film and in television --including one job that gives her the ultimate single-girl cred: an appearance on HBO's "Sex & The City." Harris played a shopper at Sharper Image, where vampy character Samantha doles out advice on the possibilities of the hand massagers.
Harris says she understands the many comparisons of "Bad Dates" to "Sex & The City," which also uses dating pitfalls as fodder for comedy. But, she adds, "the play is not quite as graphic as the television show. 'Bad Dates' is more about dating than sex. But my character does talk to the audience about things you might not tell everyone."
The parallels are easy to see, though. There's the New York setting, which provides endless opportunity for dates gone wrong. There's the 30-something point of view of trying to meet and connect with someone. And there's Haley's loves of shoes, something for which "Sex & The City" protagonist Carrie Bradshaw is also well known. And Haley, like Carrie, has found that men can be like shoes: Some of them sure look good, but they can also hurt.
On the other hand, playwright Theresa Rebeck's Haley isn't a remake of uber-Manhattan fashionista Carrie. She's a transplant from Texas, and she's mom to a budding 13-year-old daughter. She runs a restaurant, which has been having some trouble with the mob lately (leading to some "Bad Dates" comparisons to another HBO hit, "The Sopranos"). Haley's been too busy to make many friends, and she's been on dating hiatus for years. Her experiences may not be easy, but they sure are hilarious. And Haley invites the audience into her shoe-strewn bedroom to hear about them.
"While she's getting ready to go on these dates, you hear her expectations," Harris describes. "And when she gets home, you hear the reality of what happened. But Haley has a positive outlook, and she's always ready to try again."
"The character is optimistic," director Amy Herzberg agrees. "And Haley has a quirky sense of humor. She's spunky. She's very capable, but in dating she's unsure of herself, trying to figure out who she is and what she wants. She's been so busy doing for other people, she's lost sight of that. She's exposing her vulnerability."
Herzberg met Harris while the former was a new professor and the latter a new student at Trinity University. "Rebecca is perfect for this role because, besides being enormously talented, she's super-lovable and has a very open, warm way about her," Herzberg says. "That's what Haley is, just instantly likable."
Harris and Herzberg agree that doing a show about bad dates "makes you appreciate the good ones even more," as the director says. "We've all been trading our own bad date stories on the set."
It's something both men and women can appreciate, Harris points out. "This is not an anti-man show, it's just one woman's experience, and it's all very funny," the actress says. "'Bad Dates' is actually a really good date show."
"We wanted to launch TheatreSquared with a good laugh," says Kassie Misiewicz, managing artistic director, of the company's debut. "At the same time, this is a really smart show with a wonderfully moving ending."
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