Theater arts college students carry out in three-woman present for Ladies’s Historical past Month

By Shelby Peck | Employees Author

What do Accutane and fencing have in frequent? They every present their very own distinctive perspective into the ups and downs of life as a teenage lady.

As three theater arts college students memorize monologues in preparation to grace the stage for the upcoming manufacturing of “Athena,” in addition they put together to inform the sudden but easy story of two high-school ladies who fence in honor of “Celebrating Ladies Who Inform Our Tales,” the theme of Ladies’s Historical past Month 2023.

“The present is all about … sharing the feminine expertise. And it’s not as a result of we’re making an attempt to justify the feminine expertise, however we’re simply seeing it as OK, properly, we all know that ladies can do what males can do in highschool,” Westlake Village, Calif., senior Kayla Jou mentioned.

Jou, who performs Mary Wallace — a hard-working and devoted highschool pupil — mentioned she relates together with her character’s want to attain her objectives and make her household proud.

“I actually appreciated Mary Wallace, and I relate to her as a result of I additionally really feel like that hard-working lady,” Jou mentioned. “I simply need my household to be pleased with what I’m doing, despite the fact that I do know they already are, and I feel she feels the identical approach.”

The present explores the highs and lows of highschool, emphasizing the burden teenage ladies power themselves to hold when pursuing their passions. Mary Wallace stresses about school and scholarships, what Jou describes because the present’s portrayal of many individuals’s “life or dying” mindset in highschool.

“It’s fascinating to see all through the play how her ardour form of adjustments from simply doing fencing for scholarships to doing it as a result of she loves it,” Jou mentioned.

To painting her character properly, Jou mentioned she should really feel a bit “youthful” on stage. She mentioned the function requires much less of her reminiscing her highschool expertise however quite “channeling that power” and forces her to develop as an actor.

“[The role is] not solely very bodily difficult, however there’s solely three individuals on the stage so there’s loads of traces … it’s additionally vocally difficult, which is one thing that I haven’t actually achieved on this division since I’ve been right here,” Jou mentioned. “I’ve grown quite a bit as an actor, as a result of expertise is follow, and that solely helps me.”

The three actors mentioned they’ve discovered neighborhood with each other and have been in a position to share their very own highschool expertise in hopes of bringing a way of realism to the present. Though their highschool years could have regarded vastly completely different, they mentioned they’ll all relate to the expertise of being feminine.

“It’s form of exhausting to … discover your group and discover your area of interest inside that group,” Sign Hill, Calif., senior Lauryn Bedford mentioned. “Particularly in highschool, you get to determine what sort of individual that you simply need to be. You need to be the worst within the group, you could take inspiration from the people who find themselves ‘higher than you.’”

Bedford, who performs Athena, mentioned being on stage throughout this present looks like being below a “microscope,” as she solely exits the stage as soon as. She mentioned the challenges she faces as an actor, nonetheless, mirror the challenges confronted by the characters, who’re in fixed competitors.

Athena depicts the feminine highschool expertise by her struggles with Accutane, making an attempt to make new buddies and wishing to carry out higher academically. Bedford mentioned Mary Wallace offers Athena the “aggressive partnership” she so desperately seeks.

“That’s why she begins coaching with Mary Wallace, as a result of I lastly discovered somebody who may doubtlessly beat me as a result of the opposite individuals I’ve been with are nowhere close to shut,” Bedford mentioned.

Jou mentioned this present is a bit “ironic” to her as a result of she had a pal in highschool who competitively fenced and finally performed in school. Though most individuals affiliate males with fencing, Jou was immediately reminded of her pal when she first heard concerning the present.

“I hope that this play causes that for some individuals who possibly don’t have a connection to fencing … they’ll consider girls simply as rapidly,” Jou mentioned.

By means of the manufacturing of “Athena,” Jou mentioned the objective of the director, crew and actors is to easily painting the feminine highschool expertise in an untraditional, sudden approach — asserting that prime faculty girls can do issues properly exterior of their stereotypes.

“Ladies are simply as sturdy. We’re simply going to point out that ladies are simply as sturdy,” Jou mentioned. “The present shouldn’t be essentially a reasonably present.”