By Amanda VanNostrand.
TouchTones is currently playing on the Arcadia Stage at Arden Theatre Company. Showing now
through December 3rd, this unique production has the potential to evoke a variety of
reactions, with reactions dependent upon every audience member’s initial experience with sex.
TouchTones opens with a musical number by cast members in colorful shirts that state, “I Heart
Chastity” in emboldened letters. A group called ‘The Circle’ encourages young women and men to
make a promise to refrain from sex until marriage under the assumption that the best sex is
married sex. Members of The Circle receive a ring to wear to solidify their promise. Whether or
not you were taught to avoid ‘impure thoughts’ and sex before marriage, this show will likely seem
absurd. Though the option to wait until marriage to engage in sex is an option that some decide to
take, this is a show that takes this model and presents it as something obscene and wholly
detrimental.
Following the musical number, the audience is introduced to Christine (Alex Keiper) and Justin
(Michael Doherty), a couple from The Circle in a serious relationship. The two are engaged, and
they sit on the couch holding hands while having a sexual conversation about what they would like
to do with each other. Christine later finds out, after offering to break her vow of chastity and go
have sex in the moment, that though the two have refrained from physical intimacy for five years
(and are waiting until their upcoming wedding night), Justin has engaged in verbal sexual
encounters with a woman at TouchTones, a sex hotline. Hurt that Justin turned to someone else to
satisfy his desires, Christine begins to feel so self-conscious about her lack of sexual experience
and sense of adventurousness that she applies to TouchTones to become a sex operator herself.
The remainder of the show involves Christine’s journey from a chaste member of The Circle to a
successful phone sex operator at TouchTones.
Christine and Justin encounter two central trials. The first is that they must figure out their own
identities after a religious group has, for years, been telling them who they are (or who they ought
to be). The second is that they must learn to deal with the fact that they have been suppressing
sexual desires, which has been a detriment to their relationship. Where should they go from here?
This is what they are led to work through in this show, and their solution may surprise you.
TouchTones is a musical, and audience members may be led to ask the obvious question of, ‘but
why?’ Though the music certainly lightens up the dismal realities introduced in the show, one may
be led to think that ‘musical’ is not an appropriate genre for a story such as this. The serious issues
in this show contradict the hilarity of the songs performed, as these songs simply seem out of
touch and too ironic for the story. At one point in the show, the entire cast employs bright purple
feather boas to fling on Christine as they sing and dance to a song that celebrates her ability to
finally embrace and acknowledge her sexual side. The song is positively upbeat but the reality is
that Christine’s relationship is in jeopardy because she is only now realizing, after five years in
said relationship, that she has a sexual side. Song titles include, ‘Delilah’, ‘You Gotta Be Who They
Want’, ‘White Dress’, and ‘Let Her Out’. Cheerful songs and celebrations being had in the midst of
trials may not seem the appropriate way to go about Christine and Justin’s journeys through their
battles. (One would be remiss, however, if they did not mention that though the upbeat songs are
inappropriate for this particular storyline, the cast does possess a large amount of vocal talent!)
Though an argument can certainly be made against these inappropriately placed songs, one
cannot deny that the cast of the show is a good one. Included in the show is April Ortiz (who you
may recognize from Father of the Bride!) who plays Teresa, another phone sex operator. Between Teresa, Gary (Darick Pead), and Holly (Jess Conda), the operators at TouchTones are all well placed
and bring fun and sass to the art of phone sex operation. They are enjoyable as actors and play the
perfect supports for Christine as she discovers who she is. These characters also produce subplots
involving the unpredictable world of dating as well as the difficulties that even a seemingly stable
relationship can contain, and the players of these stories present them well.
There is much to be said about the quality of this production, but one cannot deny that in engaging
in this show, audience members will be given something to think about. This show examines the
options of both waiting and of engaging in meaningless sexual encounters, and presents the
potential damages of each. If this is a topic of interest or if you are up for some irony in your life,
this show could be the one for you.