BWW Previews: BE A GOOD GIRL at Segal Centre

The rise of the #MeToo Movement began with actress-model Rose McGowan in October 2017, when she bravely broke the silence surrounding sexual assault and harassment. Her allegations shed light on how tragically commonplace it is to be a victim of sexual abuse and McGowan was soon joined by other stars of stage and screen who courageously shared their assault stories with the world. Well, one more actress has joined the #MeToo ranks and has turned her own experiences into art. Having garnered lots of attention at the Toronto Fringe Fest, Adina Katz brings her solo performance of Be a Good Girl to Montreal audiences at The Segal Centre March 6-11.

Conceived and created by Katz, Be a Good Girl is a one woman show that combines drama, dark comedy, video clips, and original songs to tell true stories of sexual assault and its repercussions. Katz also brings to light the gender conditioning that's plagued multiple generations, despite many of us Gen Xers having grown up with Marlo Thomas and friends' Free to be You and Me.

Having seen Katz's Facebook feed as she was preparing for Be a Good Girl's premiere last year, I was intrigued to see her building Muppet-style puppets for a seemingly serious play with mature subject matter. I suspect that she uses these props as well as elements of prerecorded sketch comedy scenes to counterbalance the heavy topic of assault. Known locally as the founder the musical improv program at Montreal Improv Theatre and The Jazz Ands (a new all-female musical improv comedy troupe), Adina Katz will surely bring in her sassy SNL inspired flair to her performance in order to ease audiences into her story.

"Doing this show here in my hometown is difficult because people know me, and I feel really vulnerable to be sharing such personal things," Katz explained, "but I put my ego aside because I am driven by why I created the piece in the first place." Recalling the events that fueled the creation of the show, Katz says "My ordeal not only included what happened to me on a date with this guy, but matters were made much worse when I dealt with the police Special Victims Unit, which was a far cry from what I had seen on TV's Law and Order."

Segal Centre's Artistic Director, Lisa Rubin, saw Be a Good Girl in Toronto and thought it would be important to have it here in Montreal. She also saw Sarah Segal-Lazar's show, Don't Read The Comments, at The Montreal Fringe Festival. She paired the two shows together and thought it would work well to have them running parallel with each other for a short run as a sort of miniseries exploring the themes of sexual consent.

As an advocate of the #MeToo Movement as well as a supporter of the local arts scene, I urge Montreal audiences to see what these heroic performers have to say. Be a Good Girl runs March 6, 9, and 11 at 7:00 p.m., March 7 at 9:00 p.m. and March 10 at 4:00 p.m. at The Segal Centre for the Performing Arts (5170 Côte-Ste-Catherine). The running time is 60 minutes plus a ten minute talk-back. Tickets are $20 (general) and $15 (students) and can be purchased at www.segalcentre.org or 514.739.7944.

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