What do you do when everything you believe in is blown to pieces? If you’re the main character in The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity, you go out and try to have sex with every man you meet. A comedy about a good Catholic girl trying to make up for lost time, the deeper meaning behind The Catholic Girl’s Guide will resonate with anyone looking for love.
Written by and starring actress Annie Hendy, The Catholic Girl’s Guide centers around Lizzie, a Midwestern girl trying to make it in New York City. After she learns her childhood priest was arrested for soliciting a prostitute, she questions why she has been toeing the good Catholic line, when her priest clearly has not. Determined to lose her virginity before she turns twenty-five, Lizzie sets out to find a man to assist her in her quest.
In this two actor play, Lizzie meets several candidates to deflower her, all played by Cyrus Alexander. From a New York City gym rat to an up an coming priest to a self absorbed actor, Alexander impressively transforms himself into 19 different characters, including Lizzie’s brother and a nun.
Meeting her prospective lovers in a sports bar, Las Vegas and of course, a church mixer, Lizzie only finds one comedic disappointment after another. But whether she just can’t find a suitable candidate, or she sabotages herself, what Lizzie comes to realize is what she’s really looking for is love. And while the play may center around a Catholic girl, people of every faith (or non faith) will see themselves in Lizzie’s obsessive, crazy and often embarrassing attempts at making a connection, physical or otherwise, with the opposite sex.
Both Hendy and Alexander turn in first rate performances and share chemistry no matter who Cyrus is playing. Their easy rapport and comfort on stage makes it easy to see this show transformed into a feature film. Funny, smart and relatable, The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity definitely stands head and shoulders above the many theatre offerings in the Los Angeles area.
Directed by Eli Gonda, The Catholic Girl’s Guide to Losing Your Virginity is a roughly one hour, one act show and runs through March 1st. With performances every Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the curtain rises at 8 p.m. at the Pico Playhouse on 10508 W. Pico Blvd in Los Angeles.
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