Sleeping alone has its merits—you can comfortably rest your laptop, magazines, laundry, and extra pillows on the bed without feeling crowded. But come one! You’re young, attractive, and tired of swiping right on your phone to signify your interest in potential suitors. Let Dr. Alex Schiller help you. The goal of her one woman show—part sing-along, part dating seminar, part performance art—is to ensure that audience members never sleep alone again (unless, of course, they want to).
Dr. Alex (a.k.a. New York performer Roslyn Hart) has been coaching daters at New York’s Joe’s Pub since November 2011 and, tonight, brings her act to Georgetown’s Gypsy Sally’s. But while New York audiences usually relax and open up when properly libated, rigid Georgetowners might be tougher to crack. Hart doesn’t seem concerned. “Dr. Alex doesn’t give you a choice,” she says.
By attending, single guests agree to participate in any activity Dr. Alex suggests, whether that’s singing along to pop songs with rewritten lyrics, kissing a stranger, or eating a banana out of another attendee’s lap onstage. The meeker among us might balk at getting that close to someone we barely know, but Hart has designed the experience to turn people on as soon as they come in. “The whole feeling of Never Sleep Alone is ‘Look: You are young and beautiful and successful,'” she says. “Now is the time to get over your inhibitions and to meet people.”
And meet people you will. Hart’s been in D.C. for most of the week in search of sexy people to attend Never Sleep Alone‘s exclusive after-party. Following the performance, audience members will depart Gypsy Sally’s for a nearby lounge, where they’ll interact with other guests in the hopes of making some sort of connection, whether it be long-term or fleeting. In the nearly three years since the show debuted, four couples who met through Never Sleep Alone have married and many more are still dating. Hart credits the show’s immersive nature with lowering the threshold for ice-breaking: “Because [Dr. Alex] is giving people no choice, they have no fear of rejection. They have to come up on stage. They have to do this.”
The fun isn’t limited to singles. Ball-and-chained audience members can sit in the Voyeurs section; they won’t be dragged on stage, but can still sing the songs with as much gusto as their romantically untethered peers. If you’re looking for an excuse to make out with a stranger, belt out tunes outside a cramped karaoke booth, or just watch creepily from a dark corner, put on a hot outfit (Dr. Alex recommends leaving the Ann Taylor sweater sets at home) and head to Georgetown tonight. OkCupid and Orange is the New Black will wait.
Doors open at 7:30 p.m. at Gypsy Sally’s, 3401 K St. NW. $15–$25.