Obsidian Art Space's production of WHAT EVERY GIRL SHOULD KNOW is Provocative and Immensely Informative

Obsidian Art Space's WHAT EVERY GIRL SHOULD KNOW by Monica Byrne is a theatrical drama incorporating elements of dance and fantasy into a story about young women slowly discovering their empowerment of self during a time when society would keep them ignorant and powerless. Set in 1914, the play uses the plight of 4 teenagers to give us a look at the tragic effects of denying women control of their own bodies. The story is gripping and made even more fascinating with its swift direction from Tom Stell and its able cast of four.

Lucy, Anne and Teresa are teenaged girls who room together at a Catholic reformatory. Their structured lives revolve around prayers, confession, doing laundry and their weekly innocent, but not church approved, night ritual of self-exploration. That structure is broken when newcomer Joan comes along. Joan brings in forbidden family-planning material and pamphlets from woman's rights activist Margaret Sanger, the woman who would later found Planned Parenthood. In the real world outside their little dorm room Margaret Sanger is in exile from society, but within the confines of their four walls, she becomes their idolized patron Saint Margaret. Taking inspiration from her radical ideas, the girls worship her with a secret ritual of sorts. Having nothing to offer their but themselves, they create stories that would be pleasing to their liberating saint. In their stories turned fantasies, they are women unbound by the oppression of their time and are able to live out their every heart's desire no matter how "unseemly" it is. It is through this elaborate bonding that each girl soon reveals her traumatic abuse-filled past. As their imaginations continue to soar, they cling more tightly to the illusions of their fantasy world, but it's only a matter of time until the real world intervenes.

The actors do a great job of creating a close knit group of characters. Arianna Bermudez plays Anne, the most forceful and quick tempered girl of the bunch. Bermudez covers her quick temper in a veil of vulnerability. Rachel Rubin plays the ever so lively Teresa, who is the most eager in vocalizing her passions. Victoria Politte plays the most innocent Lucy. The most lacking in sexual awareness, she makes up for it with her overabundance of imagination. She is the catalyst for the girls' mythical fantasies. Newcomer Joan is aptly played by Haley Hussey. The contrast between her more reserved nature and that of her roommates works well.

Tom Stell's direction is dynamic and effective throughout. All four of the cast members do an exceptional job exploring the hopes, fears and passions of their characters. As the tension around them ebbs and flows, their performances only grow in intensity from the play's start to finish. Among them there is a fevered sense of unity as they equate the issues of another era to the issues of today. One of the most intriguing aspects of the show is the intricate choreography during the girls' mystical journeys into fantasy. Accented with a contemporary score, emotions soar during this bonding ritual as they become more aware of themselves. With well-kept pacing these moments are poignantly captivating.

Monica Byrne's WHAT EVERY GIRL SHOULD KNOW is inspired by Margaret Sanger's pamphlets of the same name. The play is a harsh look at the reality of society in which Byrne was raised and is also a reminder of the same woman's issues today. She shines a bright light on the sexual repression that young women were (and still are) being raised under, and illustrates the brutal and tragic outcomes that can result from keeping young women in the dark about the changes and emotions that puberty, sexuality, and desire bring to us.

Obsidian Art Space's regional premiere of WHAT EVERY GIRL SHOULD KNOW is provocative and immensely informative. The events in the play largely occur because the girls don't have the information that they need. It invites the audience to think about how the issues of reproductive rights, victim blaming, sexual awareness and access to information are not only issues in the play but the same issues disputed more than a century later in 2015. The play can certainly be passed off as female centric but it can should speak heavily to both genders. Given the political climate, it is always best for everyone to be aware of the same issues. After all, it was the lack of empowerment and self-knowledge that created more than a few problems for the teenagers of SPRING AWAKENING.

Photo courtesy of Obsidian Art Space

Obsidian Art Space presents WHAT EVERY GIRL SHOULD KNOW Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm through March 28th. For tickets and more infomation visit ObsidianArtSpace.org