A mid-'90s bromance of epic proportions is stirring in "Matt & Ben," a 2003 Off-Broadway stage comedy that imagines the artistic process, hunger for celebrity and dude-tastic friendship between besties and eventual Oscar winners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck as they struggle to write "Good Will Hunting." The twist is that the play was written and portrayed by two women: real-life friends Brenda Withers and Mindy Kaling (yes, that Mindy Kaling).
First Floor Theater and director Amanda Fink originally wanted to stage the play with two men instead, but were denied permission. "Underneath Matt & Ben's punchlines and celebrity, there is a genuine exploration of what it means to be lifelong friends and the particular kinds of love-and repulsion-that live in that relationship," Fink said in a statement announcing the casting change in October. "While we originally chose to cast male actors in the two roles to place focus on this relationship, we are more than confident that our new cast will nail both the outrageous comedy of their gender-bending performance, and the genuine connection between Matt and Ben."
We spoke with Chicago actors Nora Bingham and Kate Healy about channeling the Clinton era's most cuddly and endearing male couple and why "Matt & Ben" is the quintessential Chicago play.
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'Matt & Ben'
Go: 8 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays Nov. 16-Dec. 13 (No performance Nov. 27) at Collaboraction's Pentagon Theatre (1565 N. Milwaukee Ave.)
Tickets: $20. firstfloortheater.com
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Is it daunting filling the shoes of both Kaling and Withers and Damon and Affleck?
Nora Bingham: The double layer of stepping into the shoes of all four of these stars is huge. Being a woman in comedy is so hard and these women really made it. They're really funny and good at what they do and recognized for how good they are. That's been a great and exciting challenge to live up to.
Kate Healy: It is some big shoes to fill if you will; we're trying to just play the human [element] in it-but pretty big.
Why is it interesting to have women play these roles?
KH: It's always really fun to try and work in a form that isn't you. I think that's a main reason people like theater, because they are in touch with the reality that's happening but they're watching someone go really hard and play really hard in this whole other world and so it's kind of it's an interesting layered device.
NB: I love that [Kaling and Withers] were creating these characters who were played by women [and in doing so] create more women on stage-something I'm always going to support. We're not trying to be men, we're being the friendship between Matt and Ben.
Was it hard finding the posture and mannerisms of two 20-something guys?
NB: I've been watching a lot of men on the train, which I imagine would be very strange if they caught me but it's been lot of fun practicing that body of movement. It's so different from how I walk and talk, centers of gravity and different kinds of gesturing. You don't have to think too hard about being a dude.
KH: Guys hang out so differently from ladies. When I see friends it's, "What are you up to? What's going on? How do you feel about this?" Guys come into more of a joking, hanging out place and there's not as much talking and that's okay. So that's been incredibly fun to play with and notice.
These guys are jerks to each other in the play. How did you make them likable?
KH: When I go to a show I don't want to see someone be perfect or completely likable because I don't think anyone wants to be preached to and I think what's interesting is that you watch this play and you see that they're doing not nice or "wrong" things but you like them anyway because it's something you might have done or you completely relate to it.
NB: There's a definite kind of odd couple, cat and dog, Oscar and Felix kind of thing between them. Anyone who goes to see this show is going to see how they're totally a Matt or totally a Ben. How America or the world sees Matt and Ben has been widely created through the media, [and] their presence as celebrities and people like to think of themselves in terms of celebrities.
Why should we care about this play 10 years later?
KH: '90s nostalgia is always really fun to go into and in general, people enjoy seeing who a celebrity was before they made it big-it makes them more human.
NB: It's an especially great play to have in Chicago because everyone is making art with their friends. Theater is so inclusive in Chicago in ways that it just isn't in other parts of the country which is really exciting, so watching these 20-somethings do what they love onstage is just as topical now as it was when "Good Will Hunting" came out.
Jason Heidemann is a RedEye special contributor. redeye@redeyechicago.com | @redeyechicago