May 13, 2005  |  By: PATRICK FOLlIARD  | COMMENTS     

MYSTERIOUSLY, A BLACK box drops out of nowhere, landing in the middle of an aspiring young actor/screenwriter’s messy living room. Inside the box, Ben and his best friend, another young hopeful, are stunned to find a fully completed, Academy Award-caliber script credited to them both.

The title page reads: “Good Will Hunting,” by Matt Damon and Ben Affleck.

In the 70-minute, one-act comedy called “Matt & Ben,” playwrights Mindy Kaling and Brenda Withers peek into the days preceding the pair’s meteoric rise from oblivion, and grapple with the old rumor: Did the struggling actors really write the script that won them both Oscars in 1998?

Resourcefully staged by Bob Bartlett, Accokeek Creek Theatre Company’s “Matt & Ben” (performed in DCAC’s small black box theater) is cuttingly funny, if not perfectly polished.

Set in Ben’s pre-fame Somerville, Mass., disheveled bachelor pad, the show opens with Ben, the dopier of the duo, busy at work adapting J.D. Salinger’s “Catcher in the Rye” for screen. He doesn’t have a problem lifting Salinger’s work (“Adaptation is the highest form of flattery”) or a clue that the reclusive author isn’t about to give him or anyone else the film rights.

The more centered Matt reluctantly helps Ben with his project, while furtively auditioning for parts on the side.

THROUGH FLASHBACKS WE LEARN that in high school, Matt was the grade-grubbing perfectionist while Ben (two years younger than Matt) was the likable clown. Yet, together they sparked an undeniable chemistry.

An engaging comic actor with a Lucy-like flair for physical comedy, Tina Renay Fulp plays Ben. In a fittingly more retrained performance, Dionne Audain is Matt. Rather than giving impersonations of the boys, Fulp and Audain terrifically capture the essence of the guys’ tabloid-reported personas.

Matt is smart and overly ambitious. Ben is lucky and not so bright.

Audain and Fulp display their versatility as a couple of fabulous luminaries who visit Ben’s funky flat to discuss fame and fortune.

First, a shallow-but-savvy Gwyneth Paltrow (Fulp) advises Matt to go for it, and sell the “Good Will Hunting” script. Later on, the reclusive Salinger himself (Audain), sporting a tweed jacket and rumpled hat, teases Ben, before ultimately advising the good-natured numbskull that the “Catcher” screenplay may not be the best avenue to success.
Ultimately, “Matt & Ben” sweetly pays tribute to the stars’ early dedication and heartfelt relationship.

OPENING FOR “MATT & BEN” is “Xphiles Unrequited,” a shorter comedy also about friendship. This one act is directed and written by Bartlett, who is gay.

In it, two homeless men, absolutely obsessed with the “X-Files” television series and able to quote it chapter and verse, are waiting to be beamed up to escape D.C. under George W. Bush.

The dominant guy (Robert Heinly) has become Special Agent Fox Mulder while the tinier half-wit (Adam Brandao) thinks he’s lady agent Dana Scully. In the end, the guys have their fantasy and each other.

Bartlett’s play begs the question: Where and when do two homeless folks log in the hours to learn each and every “X-Files” episode by heart?