Sex with Strangers

Steppenwolf Theater Company

I am a sucker for both books and plays where the structure can succinctly be drawn out on the back of a napkin. Sex with Strangers is one of those plays. It's easy, the narrative arc looks like this:














The intersection of the two lines represent the golden moment when the characters are in the same place. And, their opposing directions reveal the impossibility of their being together, since they are so clearly headed in opposite directions.

The first act of the play begins at a writer's retreat where our characters are the only two using the place because of a serious blizzard. The male part is a man in his 20's, who has hit upon fame and success by publishing a best-selling book about his sexual exploits through picking up women in bars, the old-fashioned way, no internet dating. However, he publishes the stories on his blog which become a book which become a screenplay for a movie.

The female part is a writer in her late 30's who has published one good book, a respectable book reviewed pretty well, but by no means a best-seller. She's just finished her second book, which she has no plans to publish.

He convinces her to publish the book. And, lends her his agent and his internet know-how. Through him, she blogs which becomes an internet book which does quite well. She has to take out some of her favorite parts and cheapen it a bit for mass consumption, but that is the price of success.

His movie doesn't turn out the way he likes and he's ready to test his mettle and his skill at writing by coming out with a more serious attempt at writing. No more cheap fame. Time for respect.

On her way up and his way down, they find one another for a moment. And, issues like the permanence of your public record on the internet, private sex made public, a private relationship blogged about, the quest for meaning and audience when the world has an ever-shortening attention span, and the current meanings of both fame and success get looked at.

The play fits well into the Steppenwolf's year of dealing with the intersection of private and public. It's fresh and I think a good pick.

It grew on me as we left the theater and when I woke up the next morning I definitely liked it.