A Fresh Look at Online Dating
If you’re frustrated with the world of online dating, you may feel alone – but you’re not. Still, as you see your friends 
happily wedded while you’re still waiting for Wednesday night’s blind date, you’re probably wondering what it is that’s undesirable about you, or why it is that no suitable partners can appreciate your good qualities. It may make you feel a tiny bit better to know that others are equally perplexed.
Lora-Ellen McKinney, a psychologist, health-policy analyst and writer seems to have it all. She’s talented, educated, employed, healthy and attractive. Why then, can’t she find love online? In her new play, fully titled “Welcome to the Freak Show: Match.Dot.Bomb”, McKinney chronicles her online dating experiences in a way that’s poignant, funny and sadly realistic. McKinney has the uncanny ability to put into words the experiences that most women try to block out or are too flustered to retell. Perhaps most importantly, McKinney is able to weave her story into a lesson for other women who engage in online dating so that they hopefully won’t face the same frustration that she has.
The show is directed by Shanga Parker, an award-winning theater artist and an accomplished director, and can be seen at Hugo House in Seattle on August 16th and on November 12th at the B2 Fine Arts Gallery in Tacoma, WA. And, while it might make an interesting first date conversation, you may want to consider taking a friend instead of a beau. After all, you never know if the companion you’ve met online is one of the men that McKinney parodies.
8 comments
No doubt that coming from Lora-Ellen McKinney this show is going to be smart, funny, deep and profound. Best wishes for this new delivery of such a fascinating woman!
Wow! Fantastic, Lora-Ellen!! Looking forward to seeing your play when it comes to New York.
We can all relate to dates from hell. Too bad you’re not in NY-would love to see the show.
Hi Laura Ellen! Carol sent me this link. Sounds like a great play- bring it to Boston and I can get all my friends and match.com dates to come along! xo Eliza
We can all relate to hellish dates. Still can’t forget the guy who liked to howl at the moon. Gave new meaning to a romantic, moonlit stroll.
This is my formula about online dating:
When you do a search for what you are looking for, you find 5,420 guys
90% of them are so ugly that I guarantee it’ll give you nightmares if you look at their pictures longer than 2 seconds. That leaves 542 guys.
Of the 542, 50% live so far away that you would need to rent a helicopter if you ever want to “meet them for coffee”, that leaves 271 guys.
Of the 271, 70% are so old that I’d feel I’d be French kissing my grandfather
Of the remaining 81 guys, 60% are so young that I could be their mother (although a friend once told me that to have good skin you need to be with someone 15 years younger… hmmm)
Now there’s only 24 of which 80% can’t write to save their lives! I mean no basic punctuation, for God sakes, what ever happen with capitals and periods?? Here is a real life example: “do u text? if o here is my number we can chat that way may name is martin and i think ur hot by the way : )”
I’m down to 5! Of those, 3 have so many tattoos that you can’t really tell if the guys is black, white or otherwise (and therefore they have pictures with very little clothes, creepy!)
I’m down to 2 guys I’d like to meet, out of 5,420 guys and guess what, I’m too late, they are already dating someone and want to see where it goes…
Lora-Ellen- please bring your play to DC (dating other blacks in the DC metro area is so bad it’s a national punch line)
Sweetfigs- Girl, I truly LAUGHED OUT LOUD…you have hit the nail on the head!
lol @sweetfigs, so true!
Leave a Comment