Boy Gets Girl

"Boy Gets Girl" is a 2000 play by Rebecca Gilman. The play received its first production at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago.

"Boy Gets Girl" uses the story of what happens when a blind date turns into a living nightmare to examine stalking, sexism and the nature of the idea of romantic pursuit. Theresa Bedell is a smart, successful woman in her 30s, who writes for an upscale literary New York magazine. She is utterly devoted to her work and struggles with relationships.

Plot

A friend sets Theresa up on a blind date with a nice guy named Tony who works in the computer industry. It is awkward, but not too awkward as Theresa accepts a second date. By the end of this date she realizes that he is not right for her and politely excuses herself from the date. Tony continues to intrude further into Theresa’s life, with unexpected visits to Teresa’s office and unsettling phone messages at her home. Theresa starts to worry as she realizes that Tony knows where she lives. At her co-worker's urging she calls the police, but when Officer Beck investigates Theresa realizes that there is not much that the police can do. Beck suggests moving out of her apartment and changing her name. Despite all her efforts to avoid him by hiding in her work and opening up to her colleagues, she eventually realizes that he has and will always have control over her life. She eventually loses everything including her identity, humanity, and will as she changes her name and moves out of New York City to Denver a shadow of the woman she once was.

Rebecca Gilman on Tony

"With "Boy Gets Girl" I felt that Tony would become scarier if we didn’t see him. So if he was somehow out there, our imagination of him and of what he had become would be a lot scarier than the reality of him especially because I wanted him to be played by a very likeable actor." [Gilman, Rebecca. Class Lecture. History of Chicago Theater. Frances Searle Building, Northwestern University, Evanston, IL. 6 February 2007.]

Notable Performances

*Goodman Theater, Chicago, 2000. Directed by Michael Maggio; starring Mary Beth Fisher.
*New York 2001 presented by the Manhattan Theatre Club. Chicago cast and production, supervised by Lynne Meadow.
*Royal Court Theatre, London, 2001. Directed by Ian Rickson; starring Katrin Cartlidge.
*Dublin 2003 produced by AboutFACE Theatre Company at the Civic Theatre, Tallaght.
*Evanston, Illinois, 2006. Directed by Jason Tyne.

External links

* [http://www.complete-review.com/reviews/gilmanr/boygetsg.htm Complete reviews of "Boy Gets Girl"]
* [http://www.royalcourttheatre.com/reviews/boygetsgirl.html Royal Court production]
* [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?html_title=&tols_title=BOY%20GETS%20GIRL%20(PLAY)&pdate=20010221&byline=By%20BEN%20BRANTLEY&id=1077011429394 "New York Times" review]
* [http://arts.guardian.co.uk/reviews/story/0,11712,704721,00.html "Guardian" review]

References