Reminiscing past loves

"Some Girl(s)," a play adapted by playwright Neil LaBute, puts one man on a trip down memory lane where he relives relationships with five of his ex-girlfriends. The production starts March 10 at the Fox Fine Arts Studio Theatre.

"This play embarks on one man's quest to seek amends from his past ex-girlfriends and uses their stories for his writings all before he ties the knot," said director Fernando Alvarez Jr.

The characters are Guy, a writer, and his five ex-girlfriends Sam, Tyler, Lindsey, Bobbi and Reggie each of them defined by their attributes. Living in different cities, Guy travels as he meets each of them in hotel rooms. The women and Guy shift back in time with the retelling of the story of what had gone wrong in their relationships.

"Since most of the scenes take place in hotel rooms, developing ways to change the set was a key factor," said Monica Hernandez, senior theater arts major. "Scenic designs used changes such as playing with the different paintings and switching the type of beds."
The set design plays an important role to the play and the characters themselves by adding detail to the atmosphere necessary to character development.

"We have captured the set with the characters' relationships and incorporating them into the scenic design for the curves in the walls," Hernandez said.

Some of the examples Hernandez shared were that the colors in the paintings represent something different. She also mentioned how the color scheme was inportant when developing the set and how earth tones and shades of gray were used.

"(My character) is complex, he is mistaken to be a bad person, but in my view, I think he has good intentions. He just doesn't make good decisions," said Rafael Perez, senior theatre arts major, who plays Guy.

This serial comedy can be viewed from different perspectives. Audiences may be drawn to these characters in the play and a lot of work has been done to make "Some Girl(s)" an enriching play and a must-see show.

"In this play, guys can relate to Guy and girls can relate to the ex-girlfriends and vice versa," Perez said.

Emotional cords could be struck from personal connections the audience may find with the characters in the play.
Everyone in the production has worked very hard. The production process has been developing since the beginning of the spring semester according to Hideaki Tsutsui, assistant professor of theater.

"The interesting part of this play is that it is student directed," Tsutsui said. "The design for the play has its challenges like making sure students were on the right track, but I think the students did very well."

Performances will run starting at 8 p.m. March 10-13 and at 2:30 p.m. March 14 in the Fox Fine Arts Center's Studio Theatre. Ticket prices range from $6 to $8. For more information, contact the Wise Theatre Box Office at 747-5118.

Lourdes M. Ortiz may be reached at prospector@utep.edu.