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Theater Fri Nov 08 2013
Catch the World Premiere of Kate and Sam Are Not Breaking up
Walking into Collaboraction Room 300 on the third floor of the Flat Iron Arts Building from now until December 14th will feel a little bit like entering your college boyfriend's apartment.
That is, if your college boyfriend drinks Cherry Coke like water and eats popcorn like it's newly approved by the FDA for lowering heart disease. On the stage, a shabby couch draped with a multicolor afghan. Aluminum cans and trash strewn about. Down to the taupe blah of the walls and the Windows 98-era screensaver bouncing around on the desktop, scenic designer John Wilson has spared no details to introduce you to Bill (Rob Grabowski): diehard fanboy and amateur kidnapper.
This is the New Colony's Kate and Sam Are Not Breaking Up.
Here, we meet Kate (Mary Williamson) and Sam (Nick Delehanty), movie stars romantically paired in the movie adaptations of a series of tween fantasy books. Unfortunately, their romance didn't last off-screen, devastating legions of loyal fans who followed their every move. Now Kate and Sam find themselves waking up from a potent sedative, hands and feet bound with duct tape, in the home of one such fan who won't rest until he's reignited the flame of their love.
Joel Kim Booster is the writer of this play, which hilariously explores our cultural obsession with celebrity, yet also digs deeper into what it means to find identity and individuality in the age of the internet, tabloids, and social networks. It's a play of extremes: super fast-paced dialogue, over-the-top characters, and even a little bit of gore -- that still manages to avoid broad stereotypes. When all is said and done, you feel for both the spoiled Kate and Sam and their kidnappers, Bill and Becky (Stephanie Shum) and begin to contemplate the culture that created them.
Williamson's Kate is true treat of this show, bitchy and plucky and very likeable. All in all, Kate and Sam Are not Breaking Up is confident and energetic, and will have you laughing at every turn. You can catch it at the Flat Iron Arts Building (1579 N. Milwaukee) through December 14th. Find out more about showtimes and get your tickets ($20/person) at The New Colony Theatre's website. You won't want to miss it.
