What Happens Behind Closed Doors In “The Bedroom Plays”

“Imagine a big bag of dicks spilling all around!” I never thought I’d see so many boners together at once, never mind IRL. That’s one for the performing arts!

…But in all seriousness, let me tell you about the all-at-once outrageously funny, comforting and avant garde experience that is The Bedroom Plays.

The Bedroom Plays (a series of 10 comedic, mostly unrelated, progressively racier scenes that are each set in a bed or hotel room) are all hilarious and attention-grabbing in their own way. Let me be candid for a moment: This production was everything I wanted — and didn’t know I needed (think saucey dialogues punctuated by episodes of gratuitous [Is all stage nudity gratuitous?]) nudity, which is expertly executed to be funny, relevant, and not at all creepy) — in local theater.

Epic artistic director and standout Rhode Island actor/writer/director Kevin Broccoli wrote all 10 scenes in The Bedroom Plays, but all but nine were directed by other people. Between scenes, audience members were encouraged (half-sarcastically) to exit the theater if they didn’t think that they could handle any more of the absurdities. On opening night, I didn’t see anyone leave.

I won’t give too much away, but some of the production’s highlights include scene four, “Roommates.” In that part, a newly single guy is hanging out at a coworker’s house when he discovers that she has another couple living with her. Oh yeah and one more thing: These roommates share a bed.  Needless to say, funny shit ensues, thanks at least in part to the invisible “wall of energy” that the chick tries to convince her coworker exists in the bed. Yeah. That.

It isn’t until scene five (“The Knot)” that things start to get a bit racier, and although they’re not the finale, I think that scenes eight (“Gamma Gamma Gamma”) and nine (“PTA”) were among the most memorable of the 10. In “The PTA,” a middle-aged married couple who chairs their PTA invites the rest of the rest of the group to meet at their house. The twist? You guessed it: nudity.

Overall, I highly recommend that everyone (except actual prudes) goes to see the Plays. The hilariously original production (one that greatly complements the intimate setting of Mixed Magic Theatre) not only pushes the envelope for local theater in terms of dialogue and costuming (or lackthereof): It also pushes theatergoers out of their comfort zones (by making them question what they deem “acceptable” or not) and in the process, comforts them — and makes them laugh their asses off. Artistically and otherwise, I think that going to see this production is a truly valuable experience. It certainly got me excited about theater again.

The Bedroom Plays runs Friday and Saturday nights through July 23 at Mixed Magic Theatre in Pawtucket. Tickets are available at mmtri.com