When I first discovered the subject matter of the new Devine Theater production Schoolgirl Figure, my heart sank. I find the topic of eating disorders among high school girls too trite to care. Yet, director Jen Rogers’ (COL ‘06) take on complicated relationships with food made the production Schoolgirl Figure surprisingly refreshing.
The fairytale set is spectacularly cheery, and the main emphasis is on girls’ favorite color—pink. The decorations look like an illustration from a Brothers’ Grimm book, complete with a castle-like turret. Yet beyond this dreamy paradise lies a more sinister side. Not even pink walls can detract from a dying girl in a hospital room, nor the fairytale writing from chilling epitaphs like “Beyond an eight is beyond the pale.” Rogers’ interpretation of the Wendy Macleod script highlights this contrast between the innocent surface and the sinister beneath.
The plot could rival any teen movie. The Mean Girls in-crowd reigning with authority over the school, the coveted star quarterback boyfriend figure, the fighting over who’s the prettiest, thinnest and most popular. Yet take off the rose-colored glasses off and the reality of the impact of unhealthy body image obsessions is uncovered.
The play opens with two friends Renee (Lauren Scanlon, MSB ‘06) and Patty (Sara Rouhi SFS ‘06), discussing a hospital visit to see a fellow schoolmate Monique, (Sarah Taurchini, COL ‘08) who is dying of anorexia nervosa. Upon her death, Renee and her archrival Jeanine (Sophie Davis, COL ‘06) must battle it out for the attention of Monique’s heartthrob boyfriend The Bradley (Ryan Wackerman, COL ‘06). In the comical escapades that ensue, the girls’ main weapon is weight loss.
Embracing the familiar stereotypes of our pop culture through the props and the musical interludes, the play creates a link between the characters and the audience. The issue is addressed in a humorous way and the jokes are supposed to act as a coping mechanism for the serious problem faced by our society.
Rogers also hopes that the laugh-out-loud gags will help the viewers identify with the characters’ anxieties. “You may in a moment see yourself or a friend, maybe you’ll be a little offended, maybe you’ll remember our play next time you go shopping,” she said in her written address to the audience.
The acting makes the performance memorable. Rouhi shines as Renee’s faithful sidekick, delivering all her jokes flawlessly and playing up to her character’s naïveté and frankness. Scanlon, despite her character’s caricatured conduct, injects so much life, even in her dying scene, into her performance that it is almost impossible not to empathize with her and her struggle to be thin.
Schoolgirl Figure does not hesitate to point the fingers. The frequent mention of teen-girl Bibles—Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Seventeen, as well as peer pressure personified by the chorus of girls who have already died from eating disorders and the failure of parents and teachers, are both portrayed as explanations for the epidemic gripping the high schools and colleges.
In a world where thinness equals godliness, Schoolgirl Figure provides a comical take on this belief so ingrained in our society. The bright characters and humor do not make it another lecture-like health seminar, and yet the message is perfectly clear, if a little cliché—beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
Schoolgirl Figure runs at the Devine Studio Theater from April 19-22. Tickets are available at the Davis Performing Arts Center box office.
