Eight guys learn about life in Metropolis comedy

Eight guys get a reality check in “Thinking With Your Head… Men Exposed” at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre.

Updated: July 31, 2012 9:20PM

What happens after
the bachelor party cools down? “Thinking With Your Head … Men Exposed,” a raucous Late Night Comedy at Metropolis Performing Arts Centre in Arlington Heights, offers some ideas.

This original and popular comedy written by Scott Woldman was first staged at Metropolis seven years ago.

“Not only was this the first offering in the Late Night Comedy series at Metropolis but it was also the first play I had ever written,” said Woldman, who grew up in Highland Park and Wilmette. “I went off and sat in Starbucks for a few weeks and came back with this.”

Woldman, who lived in Glenview before he moved to Palatine ten years ago, is now the resident playwright at Metropolis.

Despite the title, no one in the play is indecent, said David Belew, who directs the show.

Lots of talk

“The only thing that is exposed is of an emotional nature,” said Belew. “The whole production takes place in a hotel room in Vegas, so you have seven or eight guys on stage at all times. The challenge is making sure the show stays visually interesting. The premise is that they are sitting around having a conversation, so it’s not a farce with doors slamming and people chasing in and out.”

And nothing risque really happens, though it’s very much a story tailored to grown-ups.

“Some of the stories the characters tell have adult themes. But they’re stories as opposed to actions being portrayed on the stage. For example, the activity of the stripper is off-stage,” said Woldman. “I can’t tell you which stories are autobiographical, because in addition to being a playwright I’m also a teacher in the district in which this theater falls.”

Woldman did, however, draw on his own experiences for the play.

“The summer before I wrote it, I had several friends get married and they all had Las Vegas bachelor parties. I’m not much of a gambler or a big drinker or one for strip clubs, so I basically followed them around and watched what they did,” he said.

“After the play was produced, a lot of my friends didn’t talk to me anymore. A couple of them were really mad at me. They felt it could damage their marriages and their professional reputations,” he added.

For the record, Woldman got married in 2003 and held his bachelor party in Wisconsin on a whitewater rafting trip. He says the character of Mike, the groom-to-be, is based most closely on himself.

Wild and crazy guys

“He acts as a straight man to all the craziness going on around him,” said Woldman.

The playwright believes “Men Exposed” paints a very accurate portrayal of men and how they behave.

“It’s not like ‘The Hangover,’ per se, or about debauchery. There is some debauchery going on in the background but it is really about how these eight guys feel about each other and how they feel about their relationships at home,” he said.

The ensemble cast of eight men includes: Kevin Kurasch, Tony Allen, Brandon Galatz, A.J. Miller, Jason Richards, Stephan Scalabrino, Sean Walsh and David Weiss.

“There are two women who wander through, in non-speaking roles, both of whom are played by one of the male actors,” said Belew. “They may not be very attractive women but they are women nonetheless. “

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