By Quinn Kinsella
The CCNY theater department kicked off the spring semester with the comedy Beyond Therapy. Originally penned in 1981 by renowned playwright Christopher Durang, Beyond Therapy follows two characters, Bruce and Prudence, who seek romance amid a bustling landscape of sex and confusion: Manhattan. A farce of cinematic emotional scope, Durang’s dialogue weaves in and out of the profound beauties of love and sexuality with bizarre relevance in 2025. The theater department turns up the heat with this production, making for one of the more daring and heartfelt plays performed here in recent years. For the fortunate audience members that were able to attend CCNY’s first performance of the spring season, they were treated to a thoroughly entertaining night out at the theater.
This production of Beyond Therapy is directed by Alex Flythe. It had a four day run at Compton Goethals in room 318. Showings ran from February 13 to 16, making for the perfect Valentine’s weekend date. I was able to attend the Thursday night show with a sold out crowd, and the laughter that filled Compton Goethals could surely be heard throughout the building and to passersby on Amsterdam Avenue. Simple yet evocative sets by Darby O’Donneell and great use of costumes from Gianna Maurer create a late-70s New York, reminiscent of films of the era such as Annie Hall. A superbly talented crew and technical staff— including sound designer Michael Gordon and lighting designer Juan Rubio Aguja— make this performance as visually and sonically entertaining as the performances.
Featuring an ensemble cast that oozes natural chemistry, Beyond Therapy feels like you just walked in on a therapy session that you shouldn’t be seeing, but you stay to see how things play out. Many familiar faces from the theater department make up the troupe. Matt Konig portrays Bruce, co-starring alongside Ella Arnold as Prudence. Leonardo Tavara plays Stuart, Prudence’s therapist, and Tamima Hyman plays Charlotte, Bruce’s therapist. Trevor Nalepka plays Bob, Bruce’s no-strings-attached partner and Aiden Hilaire rounds out the cast as a waiter named Andrew who steals the show in the final scenes. Durang’s quick and witty dialogue, although not hard to produce laughter from, is utilized to new heights by the cast mentioned above. Tavara really shines as Prudence's therapist, who is mentioned in the past to have blurred the lines between his professional and personal life. Arnold grounds the play as seemingly the only sane member of this zany cast of characters. Hyman is easily the funniest of the bunch, as Bruce’s hair-brained therapist, never seeming to remember the right words, leading to word-association monologues that dip into the absurd and emerge with uproarious laughter from the crowd.
Matt Konig is the stand-out. He has the most to work with as the deeply emotional Bruce, and while it could have been an easily phoned-in performance by an actor of a lower understanding of his craft, Konig leaves no emotional stone unturned in his portrayal. His comedic timing brings to mind the likes of comedy greats of the time, such as Steve Martin in The Jerk. Like Martin, it is Konig’s physicality that really seals the deal on his portrayal of Bruce. As flamboyantly emotional as he is desperately searching for the one, Konig’s performance is comedy gold. He is prone to bouts of crying—which Prudence deems unmanly—and he displays no trace of self-awareness, blurting out anything and everything that comes to his mind without thinking about it first. In the fall of last year, Konig proved to effortlessly recite Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter in CCNY’s production of Romeo & Juliet, and this spring he only raises the bar with Beyond Therapy. The most promising name in the theater department is the one that you’ll find in your playbills in a decade.
In conversation with Matt, I asked what kind of actor he wants to be in the future. He responded with a simple yet perfectly fitting answer: “I would love to be a character actor.” At his response, I could already see him in demand, morphing in and out of characters: a detective in a murder mystery, the serial killer in a horror film, the disgruntled brother in a rom-com, the profoundly inspirational teacher in a coming of age movie. The character actor is one of the hardest and unrecognized roles in the movie business. Whereas other actors function as certain tools with certain skill sets, character actors encompass the entire scope of the creative mind and spectrum of character. Matt Konig’s abilities seem perfectly in tune with his aspirations. Don’t get me wrong, Konig could easily be a leading man, but in a way, that would be doing the world of cinema and stage a disservice, when instead he could be the magic ingredient on any given set, ready to launch into any character at any given time.
Beyond Therapy is a surge of energy that stays with you long after the cast gives their final bow. It is a story of finding meaningful romantic connections in a time when the prospect of true love feels increasingly distant. Although Durang’s play is over four decades old, the writing is as relevant as ever. There is a subtext of the play that seems to be in dialogue with the uncertain times we live in. The Manhattan that Durang portrays in 1981 with this play very much reflects the modern Manhattan we live in today. CCNY’s production is achingly relatable with side-splitting comedic performances that flex a muscle the theater department has, until now, not fully utilized. Majorly due to Flythe’s direction and the two lead performances, Beyond Therapy is another knock-out from the theater department.
This is just the beginning of the spring semester season here at the theater department. Next up is Pippin, a musical by Bob Fosse and Roger O. Harison. Led up with Detroit ‘67 by Dominique Morrisseau. Following in the lineup is The New Play Project featuring the works of Kathleen Potts and Naren Weiss. And finally rounding out the season is The One-Act Play Festival, mentored by Chan Harris. The Newspaper will keep readers updated on future performances and the diverse creative culture here on campus.
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