Playwright: Sadie Pfannkuche, Amy Sumpter and Kendra Stevens. At: Stockyards Theatre Project at Ginger's Ale House, 3801 N. Ashland. Phone: 773-936-7896; $10. Runs through: Sept. 19
If you've never availed yourself of the online marketplace known as Craigslist ( I haven't ) , you won't be likely to do so after hearing the personae of The Unmentionablesa mousy librarian enamored of cuddly sex seeking like-minded partners, an apartment-renter searching for a roommate and a cautious young lady who shuns the service altogetherrelate their Alice-like adventures in that particular cyberWonderland.
What distinguishes well-crafted monologues from simple girlish confidences ( orspilling gut being a gender-neutral pastimegood-ol'-boy bull sessions ) is the degree to which the speaker addresses audience members who may be uninitiated in the experiences they propose to share. Illustrating this principal is Amy Sumpter's lecture on efficient procedures for interviewing potential cohabitants, which speaks to both the internet novice and the carpal-tunnel veteran by being written largely in the second persone.g., "you" do this or thatwith only occasional forays into personal reminiscence, and delivered in the listen-up-this-is-for-your-own-good tones of a drill instructor.
Sadie Pfannkuche's recitation of provocative e-mail headlines and her evaluation thereof in the course of her trawl for a touchy-feely quickie, on the other hand, not only covers a topic already discussed, deconstructed and dissed ad nauseam, but her decision to acquaint us with her stratagems while dressed in a kewpie-doll dress and hair-bow, enhanced at one point by an onstage hair-restyling into even more babyish pigtails, lends an unintentionally creepy edge to her autopedophilic fantasies. Kendra Stevens, by contrast, is wholly unconcerned with her audience's level of empathy, since her case for not using Craigslist is based in a fundamental fear of strangers. To someone for whom a ride along a bicycle path is fraught with risk generated by homicidally negligent fellow citizens, the prospect of inviting the attention of anonymous predators is unthinkable.
The popular specter of theeek!faceless-psycho killer is invoked a little too frequently, pushing the evening dangerously close to slumber-party shiveries. But don't underestimate this trio ( on their opening night, joined by burly-girl Paris Green, providing the curtain-raiser ) , appearing under the sponsorship of the Stockyards Theatre Project. Any performers willing to mount their show in a room flanked by soccer fans in full cheerleader mode boasts far more mettle than their confessions would have us believe.