Las Vegas Little Theatre stages ‘Beyond Therapy’

Friday, Jan. 18, 2002 | 9:18 a.m.

When: 8 p.m. today and Saturday and 2 p.m. Sunday (additional performances ar.

Where: Las Vegas Little Theatre, 3844 Schiff Drive.

Tickets: $13; $11 for students and seniors.

Information: 362-7996.

Take two therapy-obsessed New Yorkers who meet through a personal ad, then share their messy encounters with their therapists, and you have the backdrop for Christopher Durang's satirical comedy "Beyond Therapy."

Onstage through Jan. 27 at Las Vegas Little Theatre, the play takes a witty romp through the neurosis of dating and therapy when its lead character Prudence (Leslie Anderson) answers a personal ad and winds up meeting emotional, arrogant, bisexual Bruce (Walter Niejadlik).

The meeting is a romantic disaster. The repressed Prudence isn't comfortable with Bruce's sexuality, nor his constant outpouring of emotions. Meanwhile Prudence's therapist (who Prudence has had an affair with) is in love with her and is trying to win her back.

Anyone familiar with the travails of dating and with people entrenched in psychotherapy can relate to "Beyond Therapy," Maggie "M.A." Saunders, the play's director, said.

The play, which is filled with adult humor, is not a typical slapstick farce, she said.

"It's a little more cerebral," she said, "a little more sophisticated."

Robert Altman directed a movie based on the play that was released in in 1987 and starred Julie Hagerty and Jeff Golblum.

The story's overall message, Saunders said, "is not to be afraid to take risks ... and that people are flawed and we have to accept their flaws."

"Any time you try to start a relationship you're a little neurotic," Saunders said. "One of the biggest risks you can take in life is to be in a relationship, to express those feelings."

This is the 24th season for the Las Vegas Little Theatre. Past productions directed by Saunders include "Run For Your Wife," "Vanities" and "Lovers Leap."