In a scene towards the end of Get Me A Guy, an elderly lady (played by Wei Yi Lin, among various roles) waits at a bus stop with pink roses for her 21-year-old grandson, who is off fighting in the war. She squints at the many buses passing by, hoping for her grandson to come off of one. She is joined by an elderly man (Brennan Lowery, among various roles), and the two discuss the morality of war, the choices they made in life, and the people they knew and loved. The scene is touching, tender, and constructs a lovely arc for these two lonely people. It also feels like it’s from a completely different play than what the audience has been watching up until that point.

Get Me A Guy, written by Israela Margalit and directed by John Clancy, is structured as a series of comedic vignettes exploring the imperfections men and women find in one another. Many of them are genuinely amusing, laugh-out-loud funny, and even provide some insight into how nit-picky we can be about the people we choose to date and/or be with. A few, however, are rather predictable and cliché-ridden, particularly in the dialogue.

John Clancy’s efficient directing keeps the episodes running smoothly and efficiently, although he isn’t quite successful in bringing his actors together. While all of the actors are fine individually, there isn’t much of a sense of ensemble. Somewhat ironically, there are three members of an “ensemble” (Abigail Rose Solomon, Andrew Chaffee, and Zack Friedman) that are sparsely used throughout the production. More integration of the ensemble into the action perhaps would have built a stronger company. However, even the capable actors couldn’t overcome the two incredibly awkward poetry recitals in the play — one involving the women pleading to “get me a guy”, and the other about what prevents men from popping the question. The rhymes feel forced, the writing lacks conviction, and the company seems embarrassed to be performing the segments.

Margalit is capable of eliciting laughs and sympathy from her audience, but one can’t help but feel that a funnier and more worthwhile play than Get Me A Guy is enclosed in the aforementioned bus scene. That one scene had more character nuance and insight into human relations than all of the other vignettes combined. Hopefully Margalit will use her gifts in the future to give us a full length play that equals, or better yet expands upon, the scene’s quiet power.