Unless you’re rabidly anti-technological, you’ve surfed the Internet. You’ve Googled, IMDbed, Yahooed, and visited Craigslist. If you’re looking to buy or sell something, rant and rave, find a friend, make a friend, or complain about a friend, Craigslist is the place to go. With discussion forums, community and personal notices, and job listings, it’s an electronic community within a living one.
So it isn’t surprising, really, that someone – two someones, actually – got the idea to write a play about the Craigslist phenomenon and not that surprising that those someones have Austin connections. Katie Goan and Nitra Gutierrez became friends when they were in the theatre program at St. Edward’s University. After graduation, they went their separate ways, Goan to Los Angeles and Gutierrez to New York City. Then Goan realized she was more interested in theatre than film, so she moved in with Gutierrez, at which point the two discovered a mutual fascination with Craigslist. They collected favorite postings and had so much fun reading and laughing about them, says Gutierrez, “We decided it would be even more fun to share them with an audience.”
So they did. Utilizing the framework of a carnival sideshow, complete with a barker shouting out attractions, the pair took a plethora of Big Apple Craigslist postings and made Kidnapped by Craigslist. Its premiere last August at the Peoples Improv Theatre, where Goan is managing director, succeeded beyond their wildest dreams, says Goan. “All the shows sold out. And people seemed to really relate to it.”
So much so that the two are developing new versions of Kidnapped in Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin. “When we decided to do the show in Austin, we used postings from the Austin Craigslist site,” says Goan, “so the script was completely revamped.” That’s why, in the ATX version, co-produced with Shrewd Productions and opening this week at the Blue Theater, you’ll find references to vegans, Round Rock Donuts, UT parking stickers, and South by Southwest passes.
You’ll also find some subjects for mature audiences, but don’t let that throw you. “We do not want to come across as judgmental,” says Goan. “Craigslist is a cultlike community. People get addicted to it easily. But despite the framework, the play isn’t a freak show. We aren’t saying, wow, look how perverted this guy is or what a loser that girl must be. It’s a showcase that displays the different reasons why people are so obsessed with Craigslist. It sort of grabs you by the ears and pulls you inside. You go onto Craigslist, and it whisks you away.”
Kidnapped by Craigslist runs Thursday-Saturday, July 10-26, 8pm at the Blue Theater, 916 Springdale. For more information, call 927-1118 or visit www.shrewdproductions.com.
This article appears in July 11 • 2008.