The first time you have sex will most likely be a memorable one. The anticipation, the awkwardness, the fear, the excitement — all of these emotions make even the slightest details of the night crystallize in your brain. My First Time, a comedy being performed at Theatre Too one night only on Saturday night, sheds light on the humorous aspects of that special moment in an individual’s life.
My First Time is set up with four performers each doing a staged reading in which they interchange solo pieces that require interaction from the other performers on stage, and in some cases, the audience itself. Between the monologues, scenes and duets, the audience is invited to share their own stories via index cards left on each audience member’s chair. Questions such as “When did you lose your virginity?” are on the cards, with any answers given protected under anonymity. Throughout the show, a screen behind the performers will reveal stats from the audience’s answers.
Pamela Harden, director of My First Time, assures that the audience participation is not designed to embarrass anyone but is in keeping with the spirit of the inspiration for the show — a website created 20 years ago.
“Originally it was a website started in 1998,” Harden says. “And people anonymously tell their own true stories about when they lost their virginity. There were over 40,000 stories that came in, and they go all the way from being super sweet, to sexy, and then there’s some darker moments, but for the most part they’re very funny and absurd. There’s hetero, there’s homosexual, it covers the gambit.”
"...for the most part they’re very funny and absurd. There’s hetero, there’s homosexual, it covers the gambit.” – Pamela Harden
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All proceeds from the show will go toward Ashleigh’s Patience Project, an organization committed to raising awareness of domestic violence. Tara Woodlee founded Ashleigh’s Patience Project after her 20-year-old daughter, Ashleigh Lindsey, was shot dead during a home invasion caused by a domestic violence dispute. Woodlee works tirelessly to educate young people about signs and preventive measures for domestic violence and lobbies to change the severity of laws and punishments for domestic violence crimes.
Although there is cost for licensing the play to perform, the limited set pieces of My First Time allow the budget to be as small as possible, making it an effective fundraiser for Ashleigh’s Patience Project.
“We try to keep everything very simple bare bones for us, so that as much money as possible goes to the organization,” Harden says. “Everybody volunteers their time, which it’s so nice of Theatre Too — they let us use their space and don’t charge us, and it’s just amazing.”
My First Time stars Jon Beller, Polly Harrison, Phillip Slay and Robin Coulonge and starts at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 27 at Theatre Too, 2800 Routh St. (Uptown) Tickets are $15.
