Austinist Reviews: i google myself

Bastion Carboni, Jude Hickey and Cliff Miller play three characters who may or may not have the same name, may or may not be gay, and may or may not have the best of intentions. Hickey and Miller's opening scene - an uncomfortable conversation between Hickey's gay porn-star and Miller's recently-divorced nerd journalist - sets the action moving. Before you can say "I'm going to slap your ass so hard it'll see stars," the audience is pulled into the world of three refreshingly weird (gay! not gay!) characters who require some mental chewing - no pre-digested personas here.

For the next 90 minutes, i google myself embraces dichotomy. Carboni's character takes anger management classes, smokes a lot of marijuana and tries to offset his history of bullying with a cautious samaritan's generosity. Miller stalks his gay-porn hero, bashes in a head with a toolbox, and sells his story to the studios from prison. Hickey discusses his motivation and creative goals for sticking it to his on-screen gay-porn partners, but look - he's "not gay."

No Hollywood endings here either, but that's fine by us. Because the (gay! not gay!) characters don't cling to stereotypical personae, their actions don't follow stereotypical lines.

Tonight's final performance at the Blue Theatre (which marked the first run of i google myself outside New York) will be attended by writer Jason Schafer.