Looks Get in the Way (Show and Tell Post #1)

Looks Get in the Way is a play written by D. M. Larson. There wasn't much background information on the play, but I did find a few things about the author. He started writing when he was thirteen because there was no cable in the house. He then wrote many plays from there. His first play, "Nicolas Brooks", won a youth award in 1988 when he was nineteen. You can read any of his plays on freedrama.net. 

Looks Get in the Way is about a young, beautiful girl who believes that looks aren't everything. Sidney wants to find the perfect guy and not a "loser". She goes on blind dates like it's going out of style, literally. Sidney has a routine, she's so used to it. She wears an old lady's mask and talks in an old lady's voice as she introduces herself. Usually, every man leaves. She's used to it by now and expects them all to leave. She knows it all by heart how it'll play out. Well, one guy comes and is so nervous, he doesn't even look at Sidney once. He hands her flowers and starts gabbing on without even seeing her face. Finally, when Phil looks up, he sees her and finds it humorous. He doesn't run off, but just stays and asks questions. He passes every one of Sidney's "tests" and she finally reveals her true identity. He thinks she's really pretty. They both really like each other and even did without looks being involved, as Phil wasn't that attractive to begin with. Sidney does these tests to see if a guy can really like her for her and not for her looks. Finally, someone passed the test. 

I think one really good choice made by Larson was to show us one of Sidney's normal dates before the actual good one happened. It showed us how often she goes on these "test" dates and how every guy runs away. She definitely was taken by surprise when Phil stayed and talked to her. I also think another choice made by Larson was not that great. He made Sidney's mask be an old woman. Why couldn't it have been like just a scary mask ? If the guy walks up and sees this old woman's mask, he might actually think it's an old lady behind it. Sidney doesn't use her real voice at first either. Maybe this was the reason all the guys left. They didn't want some old lady. Maybe if Sidney wore a young person's mask that wasn't her face or something, they would've reacted differently.