by lisa lipsey –
Joshua Harmon, famed for his comedy Bad Jews, wrote Significant Other and watched it transfer to Broadway last year. The central character in his romantic comedy is Jordan Berman, who has been pounding the New York City pavement searching for “Mr. Right.”
Jordan has a trio of close-knit girlfriends who help him get through the lonely nights. As he watches their singles nights turn into bachelorette parties, it makes him face his own capacity to love and be loved, and his own dreams of a wedding one day.
“This heartfelt, feel-good romantic comedy will have you rolling in the aisles,” Artistic Director Matt Morrow says. “As intelligent as it is funny, Significant Other is an unflinching portrait of modern, young urban, gay love at its lonely best. This honest, endearing and hysterical new work debuted Off Broadway before transferring to Broadway last year—a remarkable feat for a new LGBT work by an emerging playwright. I’m thrilled to welcome our own Anthony Methvin in his directorial debut.”
Methvin, a director, performer and playwright (Bleed Like Me), earned his Master’s Degree in Fine Arts from Florida State University Tallahassee and is a self-described, “Steel snowflake, liberal, hallosexual [only sexually attracted to people when they are in costume], scruffy gay, who loves pop culture, Disney, drag and horror.”
“In Significant Other, the GBF is at the center of the narrative. Seeing that troupe get his own fully developed storyline in a shifting time for LGBTQ people is wonderful. For so many years, we haven’t had the spotlight, we weren’t asked the marriage questions: ‘So what’s the hold up? Marry that boy!’
Shortly after graduation, he moved to New York City, “Searching for love in NYC was terrifying in my early 20’s. I was out when I was in college, but Tallahassee was so very different. There is something to be said for the energy there, it either feeds you or steamrolls you. There is also anonymity in the big city, so if you need to fade away, you can and no one cares. The people are not scary or unfriendly, they are just so in their own bubble until they have a specific reason to connect. The city is aspirational and wonderful in a way and exhausting in other ways.”
“What excites me most about working with this play is the representation,” Methvin continues. “Now I am 39, growing up the best representation of queer people I could find was the ‘gay best friend.’ (GBF) Don’t get me wrong, I was grateful to see myself somewhere in the culture, even if gay characters were not dimensional.”
“In Significant Other, the GBF is at the center of the narrative. Seeing that troupe get his own fully developed storyline in a shifting time for LGBTQ people is wonderful. For so many years, we haven’t had the spotlight, we weren’t asked the marriage questions: ‘So what’s the hold up? Marry that boy!’ This play gives us a chance to examine love and marriage, life decisions we had to hide before. Now that gay marriage is legal, is it the right fit or is it now an expected aspirational dream? That self-reflection is important and sometimes intimidating.”
“I would love people to walk in knowing they are seeing something really joyful. There is this sense that a play about 20-somethings will be cynical, hard-edged and mean. This show is warm and funny and human. When audiences walk in, they will see reflections of themselves and their experiences. This isn’t Friends, or Will and Grace, it’s not a sitcom and it’s not the old, tragic indie film where all the gay characters die.”
Looking to the gay experience in NYC, from Stonewall in 1969 to 2019, Methvin says, “This play is having conversations that are relevant to right now. It’s wonderful how much the representation has changed. It’s time to celebrate where we are, complicated human beings at the center of our own narratives. I think all these years down the line, that is something worth celebrating.”
Significant Other runs through Sunday, June 23 at the Diversionary Theatre, 4545 Park Boulevard. For tickets and more information, call 619.220.0097, or go to diversionary.org.