A Burnaby teen is onstage in a production that carries an important message for the 21st century.
Girls Like That is onstage Nov. 2 to 10 at Templeton Secondary School in Vancouver. It’s being presented by Shameless Hussy Productions, in partnership with Templeton’s Theatre Temp (its extracurricular theatre group) and its Girls in Leadership club.
Sophia McKinley of Burnaby – a Grade 10 student at Templeton - is part of an all-teenage cast telling the story of what happens when a young girl named Scarlett (Alison Moreau) becomes the centre of attention after a naked photograph goes viral.
“Its central message rings loud and clear – women’s internalized misogyny has usurped the efforts of men in the maintenance of female oppression,” a press release notes.
The Vancouver premiere of the play, written by Evan Placey, is directed by Renée Iaci and features 10 teenage performers. The scenes are intercut with short, comedic monologues from women of different eras – a flapper, an air pilot, a hippie, a Melanie Griffith-style working girl – who broke with convention.
“These women represent generations of oppression by the opposite sex as well as the wider society, and ultimately contrasted by the current generation of girls, selling itself short and oppressing themselves through slut-shaming and bitterness,” the release notes.
It also stars Raquel Francis, Chloe Bray, Savannah Read, Louise Cove, Jasmine McRae, Isabella Tecson, Sasha Cription-Ingles and Claire Dooley.
Templeton Secondary is at 727 Templeton Dr., and the show is on Nov. 2 and 3, and Nov. 7 through 10, at 7 p.m. Tickets are $10. See www.shamelesshussy.com for details or buy tickets through www.eventbrite.com.
