Kidnapped by Craigslist

Written by Katie Goan and Nitra Gutierrez

Directed by Kimmy Gatewood

The People’s Improv Theater

319 29th Street

800-838-3006

Review by Rachel Wynn

 

Katie Goan and Nitra Gutierrez’s new comedy Kidnapped by Craigslist dissects the online phenomenon that is Craigslist.org. Lead by narrator Michelle O’Connor, the cast (Katie Goan, Jacob Brown and Jared Robinson) hacks into the mainframe of the ubiquitous Web site and extracts a series of sketches that detail its oddities and its users.

 

Rants and Raves: Jacob Brown, Jared Robinson, Katie Goan and Michelle O’Connor get Kidnapped by Craigslist at the People’s Improv Theater.

 

Kidnapped by Craigslist clicks most heavily onto the site’s personals section, diving into “missed connections,” “women seeking men,” and “rants and raves.” In “Beautiful Naked Boy,” Brown plays a gay man who is perpetually distracted by his naked neighbor across the way. O’Connor stars in the rant/musical number, “I don’t like it when you stick things in my a** hole,” which offers some laughs but runs about three verses too long. Goan shines in a “missed connection” with a perverse man in the subway and in a “rave” about her wonderful new boyfriend who keeps ignoring it when she farts at inappropriate moments. Robinson is equally charming in a rant about his crazy neighbor who wears a saucepan on her head to keep out the aliens.

 

While the script does well at touching on various aspects of life on Craigslist, it sorely misses the Web site’s most frequently used job and housing sections. The absence of the quintessential New York experience of finding a roommate, a small square of space to live in, or a job to pay for that space is a major fault in Kidnapped by Craigslist. Without these topics, the play simply feels unfinished. Still, the new show deserves a try as it pioneers relevant and modern material in a hysterical and charming fashion.