The most personal moments in people's lives are revealed at the Fortune Theatre this week in My First Time, Nigel Benson reports.
So... how was your first time? No, really?
The pantyhose will be ripped off propriety at the Fortune Theatre next week when the curtain drops on a candidly risque play.
My First Time was conceived in 1998 when a website (www.myfirsttime.com/index.html) was launched asking for accounts about people's first sexual experiences.
Cyberspace almost went into meltdown as more than 60,000 people worldwide quickly contributed their saucy secrets.
The stories and characters spawned the 90-minute play.
And the stories range from the titillating to the tragic as four actors detail the first sexual experiences of real people.
A lot of the dialogue in the play is delightfully clever in its simplicity.
Such as scene VIII:
Man: "Jesus."
Woman: "Oh God."
Man: "God."
Woman: "Jesus."
Man: "Oh God."
Woman: "God."
Man: "Jesus."
Woman: "Oh God."
No convoluted lines there, then.
My First Time has been lauded as the first theatre production to rely entirely on user-generated content.
"It's very democratic and all the stories are told verbatim," director Jeff Zusterman says.
"I don't think it's lurid - it actually provides a level of anonymity - but it's very candid.
"It's light and titillating and a very nicely put together show. All the stories are from the website.
"The thing I really love about this is the accessibility of it. The universality of the story. Everybody has either had a first time, or they want one," he says.
Zusterman (40) worked in professional theatre in the United States from 2000 to 2004.
He then returned to New Zealand to direct TV2 television series Shortland Street until the end of last year.
My First Time is his first play at the Fortune.
"I've been wanting to get back into theatre and when I read this play it just seemed really neat and I could see the possibilities in it," he says.
"It's a really good show for these times. It felt like coming out of winter and coming into spring. It's been a rough winter and everybody is ready for a good laugh."
The minimalist set, which forgoes even the back of a bike shed, soon heats up as the four actors detail the experiences of real people around the world.
"It's a great example of the current mode of contemporary American play."
Rehearsals started last week and soon had the cast flushed.
"There's an incredibly hot story about a boy and the girl next door. The way it's played out is very exciting. It's like the perfect story.
"Then there's the stranger on the subway experience and the couple who meet on an aeroplane. There had to be a mile-high club story in there," Zusterman grins.
"However, one of my favourite stories is about an elderly man who ran a college radio station in the 1960s and one day, as a stunt, he and his female co-host undressed each other on air.
"The minute they were off air she jumped on him. He says it remains his greatest memory to this day."
But, Zusterman admits other stories have a "bittersweet quality to them".
"Some stories are about unwanted first times, or people who didn't use contraception and worried about it afterwards.
"There's lots of audience interaction, too, so there's going to be that element of the unknown and we invite that. That's the beauty of theatre; that special space."
Meanwhile, interactive images and words bounce off the back walls of the stage.
There is also the story of Rosie Reid, who auctioned her virginity on the internet to pay a $36,700 university fees debt.
She managed to knock off $20,500.
And as for details on Zusterman's first time?
He pauses for a bit and considers the question, before answering.
"Ah, I'll pass on that."
Fortune show delves into sex lives of leading citizens
The Fortune Theatre's new production, My First Time, will expose the private lives of some of our leading citizens.
Dunedin Mayor Peter Chin, Invercargill Mayor Tim Shadbolt and the All Blacks have all been approached about sharing their first sexual experience.
Fortune Theatre manager Janice Marthen says posters detailing people's risque recollections will be displayed while the play is in season.
"We're going to be putting them all around the theatre," she said this week.
"It's going to be a lot of fun. From the moment people arrive at the theatre they're going to have a fantastic experience."
Audience members will also be invited to contribute to the carnal carnival.
Incidentally, there is actually a word for the study of virginity.
The Greeks came up with it, of course.
A parthenologist (from the Greek word for virgin, parthenos) is a person who specialises in the study of virgins and virginity.
See it
My First Time features Danielle Mason, Jacque Drew, Kristian Lavercombe and Roy Snow and runs at the Fortune Theatre from August 21 to September 12.
Virgins admitted free on opening night.
