September 20, 2013
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Just Saw What Every Girl Should Know
Last night I joined the Works By Women San Francisco group to go see What Every Girl Should Know by Monica Byrne which is currently up at Impact Theatre in Berkeley.
Side note: The Works By Women San Francisco is the local chapter of the New York based Works By Women group. The SF chapter organizes a monthly theatre outing to go see work by women playwrights.
We met for a pre-show dinner in the courtyard outside La Val’s pizza. For the uninitiated, Impact Theatre is located beneath La Val’s and one of the added perks is being able to bring in pizza and beer to a show. So naturally I had myself a couple of slices of pizza.
The real treat of the evening, aside from the play, was the fact that the playwright Monica Byrne is in town for a few of the shows this week. So after the play we all headed over to Jupiter (the bar, not the planet) for a post-show hangout. This was especially nice for me since I’ve “known” Monica via Twitter for some time now. So getting to meet in the flesh and chat a bit was very nice indeed.
But back to the play. What’s it about? Well, here’s the synopsis:
In 1914, four teen girls are thrown together in a New York reformatory. Within the walls of their small room, together they discover their sexuality and personal power as they reveal the horrifying events that led each to that dormitory room. Developing rituals to connect with an unorthodox patron saint, Anne, Joan, Theresa, and Lucy open up an exciting and dangerous realm in which they take on new identities and exact revenge fantasies—while back in their room, a revelation pushes them toward real-life rebellion.
Abigail Edber, Arisa Bega, and Carlye PollackBravo to the cast, to director Tracy Ward and to the playwright! And an extra bravo to Impact for producing this play and a great evening of theatre.
So don’t miss out on this play. It’s getting rave reviews for a reason.
Get thee to the theatre!
