“Why is there a giant box of porn in our apartment?” The question is as old as time itself. Or maybe it isn’t. Scholars say we’ll never really know for sure. But it’s a question Kate and Ron have to face a week shy of their first wedding anniversary.
If you and I walked down the street in this city and asked one hundred people if they owned and/or regularly paid for pornography, I’d wager fewer than fifteen people would admit they did. And yet, pornography is a thriving industry. The pornography industry paid over $36M in taxes to the State of California last year.
In taxes.
Pornography has fired the killing blow in both home media format wars (VHS vs. Betamax and Blu-ray vs. HD-DVD). And yet it is rarely acknowledged outside its own forums online or by groups with names like “Family Safe Media.” It is shameful and successful. It is integral and denied. It is civilization’s dirty little secret.
When Kate and Ron discover the massive portmanteau of XXX-rated videotapes in their apartment, it shakes their relationship to its core. Because, as their neighbor Sherlock observes, pornography is not meant to be in the open. It is meant to be hidden. And it is certainly not something polite people keep on display in their home. (Though Kate’s sister Vanessa has no problem with it.)
But pornography is also something much more dangerous than shameful: it is honest. It makes no pretense about what its purpose is. The actors, writers, directors, producers have one goal in mind when they made it and you have one goal in mind when you watch it. The tapes stare at the characters as if to say, “We all know why we’re here.”
“Why is there a giant box of porn in our apartment?” Maybe it is an old question. Maybe it isn’t. Maybe I’m thinking of something else. I’m sure. It’s very late and I ate at an Italian-Mexican fusion restaurant tonight. But Field Trip Theatre’s Giant Box of Porn by Patrick Flynn takes this age-old question in a bold new direction.
Or maybe it doesn’t.
Either way.
The Warehouse
645 New York Ave NW
Washington, DC 20001
On New York Ave NW between 6th St NW and 7th St NW. Accessible by
Metro at Mt. Vernon Square and Chinatown stations.
When:
Saturday, July 12 at 5:15 PM
Wednesday, July 16 at 8:30 PM
Saturday, July 19 at 6:15 PM
Tuesday, July 22 at 9:00 PM
Sunday, July 27 at 6:00 PM
Purchase tickets online, or call 866-811-4111.
