"Gender Bender," a zany and over-the-top show by Bare Minimum Productions, is currently underway at the Boston Center for the Arts' intimate Black Box Theatre. The play, penned and directed by production company co-founder Anne Continelli, explores gender issues using humor and improbable dramatic ploys.
The show revolves around a confused - and rather contrived - reality. Betty (Deb Malone) and David (Jonathan Overby) have just moved in together, but want to conceal their new living arrangement from David's middle-aged parents, who have announced their intent to pay a visit.
Just as the parents arrive, however, the young lovebirds also find themselves playing host to a pair of Mormon missionaries who decide to stay for the weekend. A modified game of Trivial Pursuit, in which questions about gender identity and beliefs have replaced the traditional stumpers, serves as a medium through which the not-so-traditional views of the parents and the missionaries are explored.
Malone is wonderful as Betty, the young woman who arbitrates the weekend of gender exploration. Fresh from UMASS Boston, Malone shows considerable talent for her age, and is completely at ease on stage.
Overby's David is one-dimensional, but a good foil to Betty's sharp wit; his part involves little more than sulking across stage, and making Ashton Kutcher-faces of distress and befuddlement.
Anne Freund plays David's mother, a prim woman who relates some of the play's funniest moments. Her frank discussion of her "lesbian genes" is completely at odds with her prudish disposition. This juxtaposition comprises one of the most interesting elements of the play, and Freund executes her role beautifully.
Geoffrey Parrish plays Scott, a confused Mormon missionary who enjoys wearing women's clothing and pursuing masculine females. The characterization is too far-fetched, though there is no denying that Parrish enjoys the wackiness of his part; indeed, he makes a very pretty woman. Despite this, the offer by David's parents to accept Scott into their home as their son/daughter is entirely out of character and strains the limits of plausibility.
That said, the Mormon missionaries were a delightful medium for jokes. At times, however, the show was insensitive to the beliefs of this religion. The portrayal of the missionaries, and the expected reaction of the church elders at Scott's decision to change genders, is highly unflattering. The religion is presented as both stifling and ridiculous for its "presumptions" about divine truth. It seems unnecessary to disparage the faith for the sake of a joke, for most of the lines would still had retained their humor had the script been more sensitive to a faith practiced by over 12 million people.
Throughout the show the actors' antics grew increasingly bizarre. It was clear that all of the actors were having a blast on stage, and the audience happily responded to their high-energy performances.
Unfortunately, the show wears a little thin by the end: there were many feasible ending points for the play, but the script continued to barrel on. Although most of the dialogue was snappy and fast-paced, there were moments of awkwardness that were either the result of missed lines or deficiencies of the writing.
The show attempts to discuss important issues about gender identification and traditional stereotypes, yet there is no subtlety in either the script or the execution. A Trivial Pursuit game with questions such as "behave in a manner completely at odds with the way you were raised as a male or female" just feels too engineered. The ever-escalating degree of weirdness felt downright grating by the end.
This material has been done before, and done better. Attend ready to laugh (sometimes), rather than gain new insights into modern gender constructions.
