Andrew Hinderaker’s play is a bit like Death of a Salesman but with snappier dialogue and a titillating backdrop. Matt (Max Lesser) quits his job to take an ethical stand, despite having a newly pregnant wife, Katie (Anna Konkle), waiting at home. Their new idea is a porn company catering to progressives. The guiding principles will be sex not smut, eroticism not degradation, no performers under the age of 25, and the sex depicted will be a celebration of healthy unions, not of power and ownership. The dramatic propulsion of trying to reel in seed money grows thin, and the play turns schematic once it introduces human trafficking into the mix. What the play does accomplish, however, is making a connection between corporate capitalism and the power imbalances that make both banking and pornography the most profitable industries of our age. Hinderaker’s other achievement is his deft dramatic inquiry into the essences of sexuality. The play boasts the kind of pristine performances, under Shannon Cochran’s direction, that have one rooting for the play not to collapse. It collapses, nonetheless, even with its many virtues — virtues so abundant and provocative that the production is worth a look regardless.

Dec. 19-21, 2014
(Expired: 12/21/14)