The Brandeis Theater Company performed Little Monsters, a new workshop-style production written by Maria Alexandria Beech and directed by Michelle Bossy. Although the play is set in Manhattan, it does not focus on the lively, upbeat atmosphere of urban life. Rather, the play begins in the dreary bedroom of Sara, the protagonist, and her mother. Sara, played by Samantha Richert (GRAD), is an aspiring poet who desperately wants to find her match. Sara's mother, played by Stephanie Clayman '81, is a spouseless hypochondriac. Without delay, the audience learns that this mother-daughter relationship is fraught with tension. Sara's mother complains that she and Sara never talk anymore, causing her mother to try to initiate conversation. Sara, however, is caught up in her own technological microcosm, trying to find a boyfriend on an Internet dating site. Sara's mother persistently nitpicks at her while she prepares for her first date (she criticizes the Indian restaurant that they are going to, the food that they will be eating, etc). However, these complaints are deeply rooted in the mother's inability to connect to her daughter on a deeper, more intimate level.

The music changes during the first scene transition, and Sara goes on her first date with Hamad, played by Johnnie L. McQuarley (GRAD). It is at this point that Beech noticeably starts to interlace humor into her play. Sara, so neurotic that she becomes humorous, researches Hamad on the Internet and plans the date accordingly. She reads that Hamad is from Bangladesh in his online biography, for example, so she falsely assumes that he practices Hinduism and eats Indian food.

Although the date ends on an encouraging note, with Sara and Hamad holding hands and gazing into one another's eyes, the scene changes back to Sara's bedroom, the symbol of her bleak reality. Her mother sits on the bed just as she did in the first scene, exposing the repetitiveness and purposelessness of her existence. Sara's mother, once again, makes a sincere effort to establish a connection and asks Sara about her date. Sara glosses over the subject, however, and she reads off new and interesting scientific facts that she has learned from a website.

Sara goes on two more restaurant dates with men that she met over the Internet. Both men are so one-dimensional that they almost become mere caricatures. One date is with Pierre (Levi Rion (GRAD)), a French man who pays more attention to the girl across the room wearing a low-cut shirt than to Sara. Her other date, Sal (Rob McFadyen (GRAD)), is a man whose online biography says he is a lawyer with a six pack. He spots an ex-girlfriend in the restaurant and proceeds to spend the entire night talking about his ex-wife's psychotic behavior. Each date is another failed endeavor for Sara.

Eventually, even though the scenes switch back and forth between restaurant dates and Sara's apartment bedroom, the two worlds presented- the external and the internal-seem to overlap and blur into one fluid picture of emptiness and loneliness.

Sara goes on her final date with Abe, played by Jesse Hinson (GRAD). Abe is a Jewish man who, unlike the other three men, Sara met in person accidentally. The two seem to hit it off, yet Sara returns to her bedroom once again, no more optimistic about this date than she had been after the others.

The audience finally starts to understand that Sara's inability to find a perfect date results from her own internal problems. In fact, we learn soon after that Sara's intimacy problems mirror those of her mother's. As the mother finally shares her life story with Sara outside a therapist's office, the two women realize that they are really no different at all, and that they are both searching for the same sense of human companionship. This scene is remarkably poignant, as the two finally understand one another, finding a long sought-after emotional bond.

After Sara experiences this emotional catharsis, she undergoes a kind of internal metamorphosis, a spiritual rejuvenation of sorts. The play ends on an uplifting note, illustrating the human capacity for reinvention.

Overall, this play explores the universalized aspects of the human experience, such as the search for identity and the need for companionship. The play also brings up the impersonal element of new technology, a relevant issue in today's society. Ultimately, I found this play touching, relatable, and inspiring.