All's Funny in Love & War

By Jill Boyd, Colorado Hometown Newspapers
March 3, 2004

(Kelli Murphy, playing a bride-to-be, advances on her hesitant fiancé played by Gil Shalit in a scene from Lafayette Community Players' production of "Lovers and Other Strangers")

Battle of the sexes takes center stage in Lafayette

Members of the Lafayette Community Players are preparing to do battle. When Billie Jean King defeated Bobby Riggs in 1973 on a tennis court, the "battle of the sexes" was declared in full-throttle.

For several years leading up to that infamous match, households across America began to transform into battlefields on which men and women volleyed back and forth about a female's proper place.

Playwrights and spouses Renee Taylor and Joseph Bologna used this national obsession with defining gender roles as fodder for their 1969 Broadway romantic comedy titled "Lovers and Other Strangers."

LCP is in final preparations for its production of the play to be performed at the Mary Miller Theater for the next four weekends.

The comedy — which was later turned into a sleeper film of the same name — is made up of five vignettes set in the early 1970s. Each is a glimpse into a romantic relationship in a different stage.

The show introduces the audience to a man who picks up a potential mate in a bar and is quite surprised to find the tables turn after they return to his apartment. It also provides a look at a frantic groom-to-be with substantial pre-wedding jitters and his fiancée who manages to warm up his cold feet.

Disagreement between a married couple as to whose turn it is to kick-start action in the bedroom accompanies another scene about a husband and wife who are forced to take a look at their own failures in the face of their son's impending divorce.

The action is rounded out by a man who is given an ultimatum by his mistress stowed away in a bathroom during his 32nd wedding anniversary party.

The Lafayette cast of "Lovers and Other Strangers" finds the script rings true of real-life relationships. "I can watch these vignettes and harken back to one relationship, or two, or three," said actor Patrick Collins of Denver. Director Jackie Tisinai believes that: "Anybody who has been involved in a relationship can relate to the different characters in the play."

Tisinai said this play illuminates the way in which Americans establish their identity has changed and evolved since the 1970s. "Back then, it was all about gender," she said. "In that era, we were more concerned with who we were as a woman or a man. Today, it's about who I am as a person."

But cast member Mary Kay Irving pointed out that many of the issues raised in the play still have resonance today. "Some things never change," she said.

In addition to exploring the quirks and quandaries of love and marriage, it touches upon such topics as suicide, over-population, and pollution. Assistant director Don Thumim called the play bittersweet, and Tisinai said that despite being a comedy, it has several poignant moments.

The sometimes-touching glimpses into the intimate and idiosyncratic moments of the five relationships are set amid bright colors, bell bottoms, and leopard-print pillows.

The production is complete with a disco ball and Marvin Gaye tunes. The audience is invited to participate in dancing, trivia and giveaways during intermission.

Tisinai describes the set, which is made up of various colorful boxes, as reminiscent of a Rubik's cube. Collins said he digs the setting. "The 70s were such a cornball era. How could you not enjoy mocking it?," he said.

Because of the subject matter and some sexual innuendo, Tisinai said "Lovers and Other Strangers" is a show for adults. "It's nothing more risqué than you'd see on (NBC's) 'Friends,'" she said, but added that it is recommended for people at least 18 years old.

"Lovers and Other Strangers," though not a musical, may appeal to fans of the musical comedy "I Love you, You're Perfect, Now Change," a series of vignettes about contemporary relationships that has had a very successful run at the Galleria Theater in Denver.

Collins believes that people will be drawn to LCP's production because: "It's always fun to be a voyeur and look at other relationships."

"And," he added, "it's damn funny."