The Stag Party and Seductive Reasoning

A collection of twenty-something characters struggle with their own personal regime changes at the dawning of the Reagan Era in Paul M. Kelly's taut and comical full-length play, The Stag Party and the one-act, Seductive Reasoning. In The Stag Party, Kelly gathers a group of college pals together to toast the forthcoming marriage of one of their own but, in Kelly's hands, the toast burns rapidly as a planned bachelor party quickly turns into a last stand of youthful camaraderie. The play explodes into acid remarks and recriminations and follows a trajectory of wild escapades when several female friends crash the event. Innocence is not as it appears in Seductive Reasoning. A college student, living on his own for the first time, comes to the aid of an all-knowing and world-weary sexpot when her car breaks down. Taking her to his apartment to use the phone while he finishes his laundry, the young man turns out to be not as naïve as he supposes, and the older woman not as emotionally hardened as she suggests. Kelly's two plays provide a wistful portal to 1980, an unpredictable year for end-of-the-line baby boomers, when their hopes and aspirations were filled with skepticism. In The Stag Party and Seductive Reasoning, the author's characters anxiously brace themselves for the seismic jolts of self-discovery.