Have you ever...?

The suggestion for this blog post comes from the mother of our first guest reviewer. She asked us to pose this question to the cast of The Hundred Dresses, which she didn't have the chance to ask during the post-play talkback:

Have you ever found yourself in a position like Maddie or Peggy or Wanda?

Intrepid actor Sarah Harlett, playing Peggy in the play, was brave enough to share her answer.

We asked ourselves this question the first few days of rehearsal. We sat around a table and shared our own experiences from when we were kids. Allison Narver (our wonderful director) described occasions in her life when she felt like one of these characters. Then she asked us all to share our memories. We all recalled being teased ourselves. We also recounted tales when as kids ourselves we didn't stand up for someone else because we were too scared all of that brutal attention would turn on us. We also had memories of times when we didn't realize we were hurting other kids feelings. When we were bullying kids ourselves. It's part of what makes this play so achingly poignant. We've been there. Chances are we've been ALL of these kids at one time or another.

Allison made it clear that none of these characters in the play were just "bad kids." That we shouldn't be able to write them off so easily. These kids love fun and games. They love to laugh and everything has the possibility to turn into a game. Which on the surface sounds like pretty fun-loving behavior. They create teasing games with nearly everyone in the play. It's a big game of "you're it" and one of the scariest things is to be the brunt of that attention.

These characters are at different points in the development of their "moral compass." When I think that this story was based on actual experiences of the writer, Eleanor Estes, it makes me think even more about my own experiences. What I learned from them, how I learned lessons and the hope that I continue to learn from them.

The Hundred Dresses runs through April 6th.