Theater fans can enjoy hours of ‘Incredible Sex’
By Ruby Nancy

Let’s just get this out of the way right up front: not every columnist in a family newspaper gets to write about how much they enjoyed “Incredible Sex” last weekend. I mean, who else gets to put together an entire column about how much fun “Incredible Sex” is? Wundram? Ickes? Doxsie?

Not a chance.

Nope, it’s just me and a whole lot of info about “Incredible Sex.”

And in the interest of sparing you more of these not-quite-entendres — and of describing the wonderfully funny trio of comedies currently playing at the Clinton Area Showboat Theatre — I’ll move on to the central theme of this review.

“Incredible Sex” is the perfect way to spend a couple of hours. (I couldn’t resist one more.)

The title of CAST’s production covers three short plays by Rich Orloff. The first is “Oedi,” which is a laugh-a-minute takeoff of the Oedipus legend, starring the laugh-aloud Benjamin Cole. The second, an ensemble piece called “Women in Heat,” involves three very different women who are vacationing together in Key West.

The final show, “Mars Needs Women, But Not As Much As Arnold Schecter,” features the hilarious Jeffrey Fauver in the title role. These three very different shows, all offering unique looks at the pitfalls of dating in uncertain times, are as funny as they are different.

Blending togas with T-shirts and Birkenstock sandals — and featuring a town crier who responds to buttons pressed on a remote control — “Oedi” begins at “around 4 p.m.” in “Ancient Greece,” and shows us the happenings on the day Oedipus, the young dork/king, finds out his marriage to Jocasta (Sandee Cunningham) is the fulfillment of a family curse.

Cole’s Oedipus is a total dweeb who earns big laughs, but Cunningham steals the show with her over-the-top performance as the lusty Jocasta. Colin Douglas is also particularly entertaining as the (possibly) blind prophet, Tiresias, who seems to be able to see when he really wants to.

Allison Hendrix is simply lovely and realistic as Kim, one of the “Women in Heat.” Having just discovered an appetite she never knew she had, her tales of an overnight escapade are a source of great humor. Maggie Mountsier (as the uptight Marge) and Cassandra Marie Nuss, whose dry delivery and sass are a hoot (playing Charlene, Marge’s absolute polar opposite), are her friends — and their conversation is some of the funniest writing I’ve heard in a long time. Delivered as straightforward conversation, the lines play much better than they would with lots of distracting antics, and there are jokes in this piece about love and the nature of the religious experience that are sheer — and hilariously memorable — entertainment.

In “Arnold Schecter,” which concerns Fauver’s character and his attempts to woo a young redhead, Arnold’s romantic rival happens to be from Mars. Set in a Passaic, N.J., coffee shop and too fantastically funny to give away its plot points, this third comedy features Hendrix and Paul Luoma as hilariously leather-clad aliens (Luoma’s has major issues, too). Cole has an entertaining cameo as a cheerfully oblivious jerk in this piece, but it is Fauver’s performance — underscoring uber-nerd tics and twitches with genuine emotion — that lends this work its weight and charm. He is both funny and sweet, and the result is a short play that fits the same description.

Yes, “Incredible Sex” is everything I hoped it would be (and, yes, I’m closing with a joke), so absolutely, definitely, do not miss your chance to experience this “Incredible Sex” for yourself.