Best of the Day: ‘Awkward Sex…and the City’ and ‘Mortified’
Welcome to Best of the Day, our daily recommendation for what to check out around town. If you do one thing in Boston today, consider this.
“Awkward Sex” comes to Oberon / Courtesy photo by Meredith Truax
These days, comedy is all about being honest. Or it’s about not being afraid to make a fool of yourself in front of hundreds of people. And if you’re into both, you’re in luck, because these two shows are the whole package.
Awkward Sex…and the City
In an era of Lena Dunham and Amy Schumer, we’ve traded in the old Hollywood vision of sex as glamorous and mysterious for something much more raw, personal, and often unpleasant. That’s what “Awkward Sex…and the City” is all about.
In 2010, Natalie Wall had just graduated college. As a creative outlet, she began to blog about her intimate experiences as a Macy’s retail worker with adult braces. Five years later, this blog has turned into a full-blown, all-female show.
Hosted and produced by Wall, “Awkward Sex…and the City” stars Meghan O’Malley (The PIT), Carly Ann Filbin (Upright Citizens Brigade), Jamie Leelo (Brunch Night! with Jamie Leelo), Emmy Harrington (HBO, Reno!911), and Ginny Liese and SJ Son (both of The Shame Game). Each woman takes the stage for 15 minutes to spill her most uncomfortable, hilarious sex story.
But it’s not all just about the laughs. The show intends to open up a dialogue about the most private part of our lives in order to diffuse the stigma that surrounds women’s sex lives and help people feel a little more comfortable with their sexuality.
These ladies have seen it all: a bear encounter while going at it in the Alaskan wilderness, a love note from a creepy neighbor taped to the windowsill, a desperate attempt at buying Plan B on an Easter Sunday in the Deep South. And tonight at the Oberon, the awkward tales just keep coming.
As Wall puts it, “You can’t make this shit up.”
August 6, 8:30 p.m., $15-$20, OBERON, 2 Arrow Street, Cambridge, 617-496-8004, americanrepertorytheater.org.
Mortified
Our prepubescent years were defined by aggressive acne, middle-parted ‘dos, and alarmingly low self-esteem. And while most of us try to repress memories of those glory days, “Mortified” chooses to revel in it instead.
Considered a “cultural phenomenon” by NewsWeek, the show has grassroots chapters all across America and even has its own podcast. It features a cast of adult strangers sharing their most private, most embarrassing adolescent artifacts in front of an audience of total strangers. Think diaries, love poems, song lyrics…the whole shebang.
You’ll be cringing the entire time. But then you’ll go home and open up your old childhood journal, and look back at that time in a whole new way (after you die a little inside). Maybe you’ll even choose to participate in the next show. Because nothing brings people together like “sharing the shame.”
August 6, 7:30 p.m., $15-$18, Coolidge Corner Theatre, 290 Harvard St., Brookline, 617-734-2501, coolidge.org; August 7, 7:30 p.m., $15, OBERON, 2 Arrow St., Cambridge, 617-496-8004, americanrepertorytheater.org.
