Drama Club: Sell/Buy/Date Review
Update: Sell/Buy/Date has found a new home at the Renberg Theatre. The show will be running Thursday-Sunday until November 3rd. You can purchase tickets HERE.
Let’s get this out of the way, I’ve been in love with Sarah Jones for over a decade now. I first met her in 2006, when I was working as a sales assistant at Viacom. One night, my work wife and I were the only two assistants left in the office, when one of the admins came by and said they had two free tickets to Sarah’s show, “Bridge and Tunnel.” She asked if we wanted to go and we were all, “Fuck yea!” To be honest, we didn’t know anything about Sarah or the show, but we were happy to get away from our desks AND to have a useful perk for once. I mean, Nick@Nite sweatshirts are cool and all, but that shit gets old pretty quickly.
Anywho, we walk across the street to the Helen Hayes theater and from the moment I sat down until I walked out of that piece, I was caught up in the rapture of Sarah Jones. Not only was she commanding the stage (alone) for over an hour, but she was also playing a dozen or so characters, who, by the way, fall all over the racial, cultural, sexual, gender, class spectrum…I just can’t with her.
About a week after the show she did a short interview session at Viacom. And you know I showed up. I met her. She was amazing. I learned a lot about her process, how her experiences going to the United Nations International School helped her develop such diverse characters. I was even more in awe.
I say this to say that when I heard about her newest show, “Sell/Buy/Date,” and that it was in out here in Los Angeles, I got tickets ASAPtuously. I didn’t even bother to see what it was about. I knew I’d love it. Note: I’m often wrong. But I wasn’t wrong about this.
Without giving away the entire plot of the show, the premise is that the audience is partaking in a college course that looks at sex and sexuality through the history of sex workers and commercialized sex. The show is set at least 30-40 years in the future and the professor uses a technology called BURT to guide the class through our journey into history.
The BURT (Bio Empathic Resonance Tech) system allows the professor to act as a vehicle for the consciousnesses of people from the past who had either been directly or indirectly affected by the sex trade.
Not only do we get to look at this topic from nearly every possibly perspective. But throughout the course, there are interludes which allow us to learn more about the professor, who may have the most intriguing story of all the characters.
Sarah is a beast, y’all. If my count is correct, there were a total of 17 different characters that she portrayed. It was easy for me to see all of them as separate entities. In particular, I thought it was interesting to see the diverse male perspectives that she shared with us. I can’t say I have ONE favorite (because I loved so many of them). But the character that moved me the most (and by moved I mean made me cry my eyes out) was the very last one. I won’t name this character because it’ll give away too much. Just know that you should probs bring your Kleenex.
One of the most important takeaways I got from this show is just how little I know about the sex industry, the impact it’s already had and the impact it potentially can have on our future. It’s kinda insane when you think about it. This show has got me watching documentaries, reading books and listening to NPR and shit. It’s a must see.
So if you are in the Los Angeles area and want to watch an amazing performance that will make you laugh, make you cry, and then low key teach you something, get your ass down to the Geffen Playouse before this run ends.
Sell/Buy/Date
Written & Produced by Sarah Jones
The Geffen Playhouse
3/7/18-4/15/18
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