New Comedy 'Beside Myself' Now Open at North Coast Rep

by Cassiopeia Guthrie, Sept. 23, 2025

It would be wonderful if we all came pre-programmed with the tools that we need to navigate life's many challenging circumstances. However, it is undeniable that certain situations, times,  places, and people can often disrupt our equilibrium. Taking back one's power can look like a number of things, including committing to any number of treatment plans and procedures. Such is the case in North Coast Repertory Theatre’s world premiere comedy Beside Myself, a new work by Paul Slade Smith which explores what happens when a revolutionary medical procedure for anxiety results in a personality schism of great proportions.

The witty comedy is light in nature, despite exploring the dark topic of crippling anxiety, and Erin Noel Grennan does an outstanding job of embodying the physicality that the lead role of Gemma demands. Her mannerisms and personality shifts are strong and are emphasized ably by Matthew Novotny’s pointed light design. 

Gemma’s extreme personalities are well balanced by the calm and steady presence of Thomas Edward Daugherty’s would-be suitor Colin, the confident callousness of Jacquelyn Ritz’s Dr. Thatcher, and the bubbly energy of Alanna Smith’s Sylvie. Matthew Henerson and Christopher M. Williams get on the fun, too, portraying the wide range of various characters with personality and aplomb.

While the production lacks the sparkle and shine often seen at North Coast Rep shows, and is hosted instead on a spare, utilitarian set with campy props and dressings, it tells the story it showed up for: in an era marked by weight loss injections, gluteal implants, gas station herbal tonics, and other treatments, Beside Myself provides an outlet for us to examine the lengths to which we will go to to escape living in our own realities while re-centering what is most important: empathy.

Beside Myself runs at North Coast Repertory Theatre through October 5.