New Village Arts plans gender-switched stage comedy ‘Matt & Ben’

The play by Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers has two women portraying symbiotic besties Matt Damon and Ben Affleck

The stage comedy that best friends and writing partners Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers wrote straight out of Dartmouth College in 2002 would seem to have been about best friends and writing partners Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

But “Matt & Ben,” which premiered that year at the New York International Fringe Festival, is just as much about Kaling and Wither themselves. “It’s really a play about two best friends being best friends,” said Marie Patrice Amon, who’s directing the San Diego premiere of “Matt & Ben” at New Village Arts Theatre in Carlsbad. Some history is required. Early in their 20s, aspiring Boston actors/screenwriters Damon and Affleck began collaborating on a script they called “Good Will Hunting.” The three years in between its completion on the written page and the big screen were consumed with enough meetings, false starts and frustrations to boggle the prodigious mathematical mind of the script’s title character. What kept Damon and Affleck going was not merely their faith in the would-be film but their friendship that stretched back to when they were 10 and 8 years old, respectively. Their faith and their friendship were rewarded: In 1997, “Good Will Hunting” premiered at the movies, directed by Gus Van Sant and starring Damon, Robin Williams, Minnie Driver and, in a smaller part, Affleck. It would go on to earn nine Oscar nominations, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor for Williams. Memorably, Damon and Affleck won the Best Original Screenplay award. “It’s such an incredible film script,” said Amon, “and to think that these men were in their 20s when they wrote something so elevated, so beautiful speaks to their artistic talents.” In Kaling and Withers’ reimagination of this Damon/Affleck saga, the script for “Good Will Hunting” literally falls into their laps. In a gender-bending twist, the two friends are played by female actors. New Village Arts’ production of “Matt & Ben” is directed by Patrice Amon, left, and stars Maya Sofia Enciso, center, as Matt Damon and Alejandra Villanueva, right, as Ben Affleck. Though they may dress like a couple of Boston buds from the ‘90s and effect traditionally masculine gestures, “We’re not pretending that their men,” Amon stressed. “I want the audience to be aware that these are women playing men. They’re given space to play with gender and for the audience to question how we read gender.” “She felt that it was more important that Maya and I communicate to each other the way we actually would,” Villanueva said, “and lend some truth to the play. The truth is that these two guys are best friends. These are two smart dudes. They’re this perfect balance of geniuses like Will Hunting but still these guys from South Boston who get Dunkin’ Donuts, who are problematic, who are nuanced.”Enciso recalls being “a little nervous” about playing a man, “but for some reason in the first rehearsal I fell naturally into it. It’s relatable in that they’re two best friends trying to make it in a really tough industry. That’s us too.” The Damon character “is very high and tight about things,” said Enciso. “Very serious about his work in real life and in the script. It’s like Ben brings a lot of joy and a lot of letting go and fun energy that you need in your life, and Matt brings in the ‘Let’s focus,’ which you also need in your life. They’re like Type A and Type B.” Preparing to play these Hollywood icons is not a case of imitating them, Villanueva said, but of reflecting their strong relationship. “The play says that friendship is complicated and it’s layered,” she said. “These are two humans who are flawed in their own ways, but the love that they hold for each other carries them through at the end of the day.”Said director Amon: “We’ve watched them movie after movie and seen them grow into who they are and how they’ve gone on to write and act in numerous films. It’s nice to see where they began – so young.”Previews today through April 3. Opens April 4 and runs through April 26. 7:30 p.m. Thursdays; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; 2 p.m. SundaysFourth Padres suitor becomes publicNightmare start for Nick Pivetta, Padres in opening-day loss to TigersShortage of air traffic controllers triggers heavy delays at San Diego airport Firefighters should take 1 or 2 minutes to prepare for a call. San Diego’s take 4, audit finds. Here’s what’s to blame. Firefighters should take 1 or 2 minutes to prepare for a call. San Diego’s take 4, audit finds. Here’s what’s to blame. ‘We’re running on fumes’: San Diego TSA agents continue to be unpaid; long airport security lines carry on

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