Main Street Studios performing ‘girl.’
Main Street Studios in Fredonia will be hosting a Mother’s Day weekend run of Megan Mostyn-Brown’s play “girl.”, on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evenings, and a matinee on Saturday, May 9-11. The play will be followed up by “She Sings!”, a cabaret-style performance of songs celebrating women.
Mostyn-Brown’s play “girl.”, takes a poignant and realistic journey into the lives of 3 different young women and the struggles of their individual circumstances. “girl.” examines the challenges, difficulties, and joys of being a mother, sister and daughter, in a meaningful and sometimes heartbreaking way. The girls and women in this play show great strength, revealing their vulnerabilities in language that is honest and extremely compelling.
In the first act, “Things You Can’t Tell Just by Looking at Her”, Hannah, a fifteen-year old, talks about her drug-addicted sister’s recent suicide, and ponders how her relationship with their mother was always clouded by her sister’s problems.
In the second act, “We Did What We Could With What We Had”, Lucy, a 17-year-old girl, her mother, and Lucy’s friend Isaac, all speak directly to the audience about their relationships with each other. Lucy thinks Isaac loves her. Isaac really cares for Lucy, but is too restless to commit. Lucy’s mother is frightened that Lucy will end up making the same mistakes she did as a teenager (and become a teenage mom).
In the third act, “Lessons I’ve Learned”, Lydia, a recent college grad, tells the story of how she became pregnant at the end of college by a guy with whom she hoped to have a real future, but who instead rejected her.
Girl marks the directorial debut of Jaime Ervin, who recently appeared as Miss Scarlet in Main Street’s production of Clue. Ervin states “Girl is a challenging, compelling piece that will tug at all your heart strings. This cast has worked so hard to bring these amazing characters to life, and I think audiences will see some staging that will be different than anything they have seen at Main Street recently.”
Audiences should be aware that Girl contains sensitive material, including profanity and references to sexual assault and self-harm. It is not recommended for children, however, children are welcome and encouraged to attend She Sings! To facilitate this, parents can enjoy Girl while their children are supervised downstairs in Main Street’s café by a host of Playground Drama Day Camp counselors, where they will enjoy games, a snack, and a movie for a reduced ticket price.
Fifty percent of all proceeds from Girl will be donated to local organizations providing mental health and womens’ crisis support services. “Giving back to our community is something that we are passionate about at Main Street, and it was important to this cast and production staff that we recognize and support our community members who may be going through life situations similar to the character in Girl,” said Ervin.
The cast of “girl.” includes a group of familiar faces from Main Street’s past productions, and in split roles, including Katelyn Gard and Brooke Jasinski as Hannah, Cal Wielgasz and Sunny Custer as Lucy, and Delaney Gruber and Emma Newton as Lydia. Supporting the girls, are Carolyn Laurenzi-Timmerman and Kim Worster as Lucy’s mother, and Kelly Worster and Christopher Buettner as Lucy’s friend Isacc.
The cast is rounded out by Caitlyn Clary, who is cast as a swing and is serving as assistant director. Also on production staff are Colton Baum, lighting designer, Kim Wielgasz, props master, and Mike Lee, who is serving as a wellness coordinator for the cast and audiences.
She Sings will feature a variety of local talent, including Main Street regulars Riley Wilson, Gavin Card, Nik Dahlen, Ben Sheedy, Clare O’Connell, Cody Gooley, and several members of the Girl cast and production team.
The show will run for one weekend only, with evening shows at 6:30 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and a Saturday matinee show at 1:30 pm. Tickets are $10 for adults and $5 for children/students and can be purchased at dramaticdynamicsllc.seatyourself.biz or purchased at the door.