Kith and Kin Theatre Collective’s world premiere production of Hypotheticals, written by Rebecca Anne Nguyen and directed by Maura Atwood, took the stage at Inspiration Studios in West Allis last weekend. And the hilarious romantic comedy is back again this weekend for its final three performances.
Hypotheticals follows a young woman, Blaise McKay (Selena Milewski), who kisses a stranger in the elevator on her way to an appointment with a new therapist. Except, it turns out, the man she kisses is her therapist.
When I heard the plot, I was immediately intrigued. And then the fact that this play is a world premiere production written by a local playwright that promised to shatter biases about neurodiversity – sign me up! I was there.
It’s time to pick your Milwaukee favorites for the year!
Blaise and her therapist Dr. Jamie Brooks (Shayne Patrick)’s connection was immediate. She opened up to him in the elevator about a truth she’s never told anyone – that she hates people – and he shares a truth too. Their vulnerable conversation led to an even more vulnerable (and passionate!) kiss that illustrated an easy chemistry between the two. But then the door opened, and reality flooded in.
The two must navigate their personal and professional relationship, risking both to continue talking. They dive into Blaise’s childhood, relationship with her mother who has dementia and other thoughts, feelings and traumas of her life (it is therapy after all). It’s messy, because they’re trying to keep things strictly professional, but it’s clear they both have feelings – and Blaise is incredibly, hilariously honest about it. He jokes that she should dress like a nun so he’s not tempted by her, and she shows up in a sexy nun outfit. She tells him she’s going to raise her hand every time she thinks about kissing him; then raises her hand several times.
And all the while, we start to learn that Blaise’s reason for hating everyone and feeling like an outsider – and for being required to go to therapy in order to return to her job in the first place – might be tied to something larger, something about herself she wasn’t aware of. They also start to discuss their feelings for one another in hypotheticals.
This show was entertaining, funny and thought-provoking. It was a story about neurodiversity, but it was more than that; it explored love, lust, identity, trauma and the beauty of the complexities of life. Kith and Kin’s mission is to explore gray areas through its productions, and this show did exactly that. It explored a messy, complex relationship that was far from perfect and showed that there’s something spectacular to be found in the grayness of it all.
