The Inventor, The Escort, The Photographer, Her Boyfriend and His Girlfriend
Written & Directed by Matt Morrillo
Choreography by Gillian Brooke Todd
Theater for the New City
155 First Ave., NYC
Reviewed Jan 20, 2011 by Larry Litt
Life should be simple for beautiful young people in lust. Sexual encounters are easy in today’s world: you’re horny, feeling ready for a hot sexual encounter, all you have to do is reach out, there’s always someone horny at the same time hopefully nearby with similar desires. You and your partner/s ‘hook up’ for some fun, then go on your own way when it’s all over. Take a shower, no guilt, no breakfast. Unfortunately life is never quite that simple.
In Matt Morillo’s engaging, funny sex romp, even rich men who are willing to spend thousands for gorgeous hookers who know every trick in the book, it’s not so easy getting satisfaction. Jeffrey The Inventor (David R. Doumeng) hires glamorous call girls to ‘role play’ a crisis filled turning point incident in his youth. Because he’s rich from inventing sex toys he can provide clothes, shoes, jewelry, literally anything to make this scene a replication that ends in wild sex. Tonight’s hired The Escort (Jessica Durdock Moreno) understands his needs, wants to please him, knows she can please him. Ultimately though it’s a business deal.
But there’s a catch. The Escort too is going through a crisis, a crisis of faith in her ability to quit ‘The Life,’ then lead a normal, whatever that is, life living on her savings. However tonight she’s getting more money for a ‘one nighter’ than she’s ever earned. She’s intelligent, college educated, she wants to know why The Inventor is over paying for a night’s pleasure. She asks what kind of sex he wants, then rattles off a list of things she won’t do unless she’s paid extra. She’s a talking menu of perversions and additional people of any size, shape and gender.
Finally she gets in her very sexy costume, comes out ready to play. But first they must drink margaritas, fresh, cold margaritas to break the ice. From there on this wild first scene has laughs and revelations, laughs and reversals, laughs and heart wrenching truths. Never has tequila opened such a floodgate of character revelations. I loved the transitions from business relationship to deeply personal revelations and eventual transformations. It could happen to you.
Meanwhile, in another apartment in the same building a couple is having the relationship killing or saving fight of their lives. The battle is over the question: Would you let your spouse have an affair to save your marriage? If you did would you attack when he/she actually did it, because you thought it wouldn’t really happen? Old expression: Never let a bird out of the cage thinking it will return just because you once fed it.
Morillo’s style of layered joking is very effective with his characters in the second playlet about The Photographer, Her Boyfriend & His Girlfriend. Karen(Emily Campion) is a cute 30 something who thinks like a modern woman even though her thinking is wrong for her relationship, John(Tom Pilutik) is a jokester with a deep desire for any and all young women. He’s a professional comedian, which is almost like being a rock star when it comes to attracting available women.
Enter young gorgeous, fit and hot Molly (Maria Rowene) into the couple’s apartment on an impassable New York City snowy night. All I can say is I wish I was as lucky as John, and you will too.
Matt Morillo is exploring a generation’s sex mores, asking if anything can be changed when confrontations take place. In these two independent comedies he exposes much more than he hides. Love possible and impossible at the same time in different apartments connected by a bottle of tequila.
