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Matt Fear and Cara Maurizi in a dramatic scene in the play "Closer". Photo by Abby Toms

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Watching actors perform a play mere feet from you as you and other guests sit on beanbags and sofas? That’s about as close as it gets.

This weekend, the newly-formed CoMMoN Theatre project will present Patrick Marber’s "Closer" in their debut performance at Boltini Lounge manager Robb Tobias’s apartment for an invited audience of CU locals. The evening promises to be an intimate experience filled with art, music and a close-up into the lives of four individuals in love.

Closer is an intense, emotional show exploring the relationships between two couples in love and how their stories become deeply intertwined, and even entangled. It premiered in London in 1997 and made its New York debut in 1999. Marber later adapted the play for the big screen, which was released in 2004 and starred Julia Roberts, Jude Law, Natalie Portman and Clive Owen.

“[Closer] really takes the whole idea of a love story and completely turns it on its ear. Love doesn’t necessarily conquer all, you don’t always get a happy ending,” says local actor Matt Fear. He saw the film and had been wanting to do the show for a while before fellow CU actress and musician Cara Maurizi approached him with the idea for a small, independent theater company (later named the CoMMoN Theatre project). With the addition of Mathew Green and Niccole Powers, the ensemble was complete—now all they needed was a performance space.

Luckily, Tobias, who had collaborated with Maurizi before, offered his loft apartment for the group’s debut performance. The evenings will be very intimate and laid-back, featuring artwork by local photographers Ellen Thomas and Patrick Keane, as well as original music by Josh Miethe and Larry Gates.

“It’s doing something city-like in a little town—I’m excited,” Tobias says. “The glorious thing about the [CoMMoN Theatre] series is it’s in up-close quarters. It’s not often you have something like this.”

Maurizi notes that the inclusion of other local artists from different mediums is something she’d like to include in future performances. The group will likely continue to perform in similar settings until they find a permanent space.

“It’s not just about the play, it’s creating an experience from the moment you walk in the door,” Maurizi says. “That’s what makes this unique, the art is even more interesting when you put it in context of these storylines that are held together by threads and are so raw and bare.”

Through its numerous, shifting storylines and relationships, Closer seems to take a deeper look into the depths of human relationships. Even though the production will lack the standard blackouts and set changes, Fear believes the intimate space will draw audience members in and force them to look at their own relationships and definitions of love.

“Not everything is a romantic comedy,” Fear says. “Life is not like a romantic comedy. You don’t always catch the cab before the girl flies away on the plane, or maybe she’s not who you think she was—that’s love.”