Alexis
Soloski

June 21, 2015

“Pretty is as pretty does,” scolds a matron with a honeyed voice and a stranglehold smile at the beginning of Mary John Frank’s very pretty, somewhat slight “Debutaunt,” an interactive satire of Southern cotillion culture. Audience members congregate outside a former factory on a gritty block in Red Hook, Brooklyn, while this mistress of ceremonies, Martha McMillen (Catherine C. Ryan), instructs us in proper ball etiquette and a couple of junior debs slap ID bracelets on our wrists (color coordinated to match one of the five debutantes) and distribute paper fans to stave off heat. Inside, the space is appealingly accoutered in candles, Christmas lights and gauzy swathes of fabric. There’s also an exterior garden with a table set for beer pong in case the Southern charm proves too stultifying or thirst inducing. As we roam, we’re introduced to the characters (though most particularly to the deb your wristband matches), forced into photo booth pictures and urged to take more photos and post them on social media with the appropriate hashtag. (The emphasis on self-promotion strikes a vaguely sour note, as do the repeated exhortations to visit the cash bar.)