P.S. Page Me Later: Performances Inspired by FOUND magazine
The note you leave for your UPS guy may one day inspire a play. Make’s you re-think all the swear words.
Based on the content in Found Magazine, Page Me Later takes real letters, notebooks and doodles to inspire a hilarious assortment of slice-of-life sketches where absurdity and reality scarily occupy the same space. Where Found Magazine gives audiences a glimpse into a single moment of emotion, “Page Me Later” analyzes and contorts to create a full story behind the “I f-cking hate you’s”, the “Suburbia F-cking Sucks’” and the "It’s not gay even though you had to pull your pants down’s,” the latter of which obviously took place in a frat house hazing exercise. And you know they’re not gay because, as they say, they’re all Republicans.
Each sketch interprets a logically outlandish story based on truly outlandish one — liners or hints. For example, someone at sometime enjoyed a Halloween party in the city morgue, going so far as to worship one of the dead bodies with her friends. And that isn’t even the punch line.
These finds show how interesting our boring lives can be. And our lives become even more interesting with the imaginative stories fashioned here, such as a slide show where a child’s drawing of what Jesus looks like is Photoshopped into various pictures and paintings like “The Last Supper.” An angry, hurt lover screams a heavy metal song based on the lyrics of a note left on a car saying “Mario, I F-cking Hate You.” The song describes how this woman followed her man, Mario, to another woman’s house and she leaves this note on his car. At the end, however, we find out someone else other than Mario owns this car. The facts may be fiction, but even this could be possible. Well, except maybe for the singing.
From playing a bubbly, singing stewardess to a near-naked college pothead, the cast performs stories you wish your relatives would tell. Each had a spiritual moment of being “found” on stage: Cathleen Carr’s screaming profanity in “Mario, I F-cking Hate You,” Brian Polak’s boyish blank states, and Joey Pelletier running around the stage in his boxer shorts (it’s a good thing he’s in only his boxer shorts) come to mind. Also there’s Alicia Barnatchez’s pop song as the stewardess possibly on uppers and Dorothy Ahle’s sullen motherly wisdom. Lastly Luke “Stay-in-the-Closet” Dennis has his sexuality challenged more than once.
A slide show projects on the background, occasionally playing a home movie, again spoiling your holiday from enjoying Aunt Selma and Aunt Patty’s tragic trip to the world’s largest ball of yarn.
So lock your diary and remove your name from your underwear, because those love letters and skid marks might not be private forever. Found Magazine and “Page Me Later” have shown how interesting normal people can be when things are taken out of context, misinterpreted or just shown as they are. If you enjoy the play or are just interested in Found Magazine, checked out their website at www.foundmagazine.com.
Remaining performances: December 2, 3, 8, 9, 10, 15, 16, and 17 at 8pm and December 4 and 11 at 2pm at the Black Box Theater, Boston Center for the Arts, 539 Tremont Street, Boston, Massachusetts, 02116. Tickets are available at www.bostontheatrescene.com, or by calling (617) 933-8600. Tickets are $15; students and seniors $12.
