“Really Really” Is Part Kegger, Part Dynamic Portrayal Of Today’s Generation

Posted by Lorin Drinkard / Thursday, February 16th, 2012

In Signature Theatre’s newest on-stage premiere you won’t find Robert Aubry Davis wearing big hair and drag, or dinner party guests looking for love. Instead, “Really Really,” by playwright Paul Downs Colaizzo, zooms in on the lives of soon-to-be  college grads and the tangled web of lust and lies the underage coeds are struggling to work their way through.

Studying, sex, deceit, repeat.

With its brash collegiate vibe, plus stellar presentment of societally provocative topics, there’s no tip toeing around the fact that Signature has a fantastic show on its hands with “Really Really.”

How many “tunnel of love” parties does it take to splinter friendships, romantic entanglements and future aspirations? For roommates Leigh (Bethany Anne Lind) and Grace (Lauren Culpepper), the answer is one. While Grace’s name should speak to the clemency that she dishes out, it is simply a stand-in for the meticulous finger-pointing and motherly tsk-tsking of others, namely Leigh. That, coupled with her bubbly intermittent Future Leaders of America monologues, makes for a bigtime comic relief when the drama gets, well, dramatic.

As remnants of rugby players and roommates’ Davis (Jake Odmark) and Cooper (Evan Casey)’s epic annual party propel the plot forward, we learn more about what’s at stake for each character. For Davis, family pressures and keeping appearances loom overhead. For Cooper, fitting in and taking the middle-to-low road. With Grace, it’s all being the best “me” she can be. For Leigh, ridding herself of her past and creating a sparkly future.

From the first scene, Colaizzo introduces us to boozed up Grace and Leigh as they’re returning home from the kegger. Leigh has just traded her picturesque faithfulness to her rugby-playing boyfriend Jimmy (a suave Danny Gavigan) for one-on-one time with longtime crush Davis. And yet all it not as it seems (as is revealed throughout the play). As it becomes evident later on that Davis may have forced Leigh to be with him against her will, so we see the forcing of many wills from our starring coeds.

The overarching fondant of “Really Really” is slathered with shamelessly selfish choices,  in which characters, representing Generation Me and the full Apple product-toting culture, repeatedly on the lookout for numero uno. Sugar coating? As scenes bounce back and forth between the girls’ put-together apartment and Davis and Cooper’s typical fratboy pad, the everyday routines of the sexes rises to attention: from fluffy flapjack breakfast and laundry runs by the ladies to the guys’ repetitive videogaming and odious namecalling of the opposite sex, no gender gets by completely unscathed from the magnifying lens from which we view male and female roles. Power tripping by both strong man Jimmy and Davis? Yes, but Leigh and her no-holds-barred sister Haley (a fierce Kim Rosen) join in the race to be in control.

What Signature’s Associate Artistic Director Matthew Gardiner has deemed as a “startling story to share about a generation of confident and driven young adults”  does in deed reflect “Really Really” to its core. With potential marriage, job opportunities and college graduation on the horizon, the coeds tumble from one tricky situation to the next, while maintaining their “me first” campaign throughout. Take Johnson (Paul James, a refreshing face from TV’s hit smash Greek’s), a straight-laced, no-nonsense friend to Jimmy, Davis and Cooper. His moral lines in the sand (hates partying, constantly studying and preparing himself for life after college) come into conflict when Davis has to appear on trial for his physical and sexual mistreatment of Leigh. Does Johnson, who attends the parties he dislikes for his friends and makes study note cards for them, stand by his bud as he faces criminal charges? Nope. Johnson, like the other Generation Me-ers, upholds what’s most important to him as his reason for bailing – himself.

So should you go see Colaizzo’s world premiere this season at Signature?

We say really, really.

["Really Really" @ Signature Theatre. Jan. 31-March 25. 4200 Campbell Ave., Arlington, Virginia 22206. Tickets are available for purchase online here or by calling (703) 820-9771. Age 30 or under? Use code GEMNE when purchasing for a discounted $20 ticket.]

– Lorin Drinkard

Tags: Greek, Northern Virginia, Northern Virginia Magazine, nova mag, Paul James, Really Really, Robert Aubry Davis, Signature Threatre, The Culture Gurus, The Game Plan, theatre, theatre shows, things to do