By Jenna Doherty
Deadline Daters follows two journalists in their
misadventures during an assignment “to find different types of guys, go on
first dates with them, and write the most revealing article about the sad life
of dating in New York City”. You can replace “New York City” with almost any
other place in the country and the masses of romantically-frustrated, young
singles with accounts on Tinder, okcupid, Friendsy, and more would
probably
relate. Some people are on these sites to actually meet other people, of
course, but there are some who are there just as a joke, and there is an
overwhelming number of young people who are somewhere in between, committing to
these accounts in only an ironic sense and afraid of the vulnerability that
comes with taking romantic risks.
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| Nikki Pope |
Most people have to suffer through numerous prospective lovers that are most definitely wrong before they find someone even
remotely right. Nikki Pope and Nicole Raviv perfectly capture this generation’s
disillusionment toward finding love in this new one act comedy.
After all,
navigating relationships is more confusing now than ever. More types of
romantic encounters and more casual relationships are becoming accepted by the
mainstream- and that’s wonderful. People should be allowed to have more casual
sexual/romantic interactions without being shamed.
What is important is that people
feel able to pursue a love life that is fulfilling for them. However, those
people who desire a more traditional monogamous relationship often place a lot
of blame for the difficulty of finding an old-fashioned date on the casual
nature of hook-up culture. One of my friends once told another friend that she
and her then hook-up were basically the current definition of a relationship
because modern people, “Say they’re ‘hanging out’ until one day they realize
things have gotten really serious and then like, get married.” She declared
dating to be dead, as if
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| Nicole Raviv |
she were the reincarnation of Nietzshe.
We all know
that dating isn’t actually dead and that my aforementioned friend (not
surprisingly, an aspiring actress) was being a little dramatic in her assessment.
But then again, dating has always been hard, and a source of serious stress for
almost everyone who’s ever tried it. Even finding someone that you would want
to “hang out” with can seem to be an impossible task sometimes. Countless
people I know who are looking for something more formal or committed have given
up on
meeting people on their own and have turned to websites and apps like
Tinder and okcupid for help. The atmosphere on dating apps can feel cruel, as
people are assessed and summarily rejected or approved of with merely a glance
at their profile picture. The knowledge that the person that you swiped right
on did not reciprocate can sting, and awkwardness of having to make a decision
about the profile of the person who sits next to you in your econ class is
deathly. Virtually connecting to someone that you could actually see yourself
being with, and who is also interested can feel almost like a miracle. And at
that point you still have to survive the first date.
The
protagonists of Deadline Daters embody the tension we feel when we simultaneously desire a
real emotional connection to someone and doubt that we’ll ever
find the right
person to connect to, whether we have social media to help us or not. Comment
below or tweet us @RiantTheatre to tell us about your online dating horror
stories and/or fairytale endings. And be sure to swipe right on Deadline
Daters and the
other plays in Series C of the Strawberry One Act Festival on Thursday, August
6th at 7pm and Monday, August 10th at 9pm at the TATO LAVIERA THEATRE, 240 East 123rd St, NYC. Visit www.therianttheatre.com to purchase tickets. It could be true love.
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