Radical Body Language

How we look, how we perceive how we look and how others perceive our physical form (as opposed to who we truly are) hardly seem to be dinner conversation material, but how abut a play? The True Body Project is giving it a shot with Body Language: A Radical Truth, a play in the upcoming Cincy Fringe Festival.

According to the Festival web site, the play was created as a collaborative work with “Cincinnati-area teen girls and women” who participated in a three-month research process. Discussions focused on “the complexities of how we experience our bodies and the secrets we might keep related to these experiences.”

Healthy attitudes and perspectives about being female is what the True Body Project is all about. Headed up by Stacy Sims in response to the Pulse Study data (see "The Pulse Is Just the Start," issue of Aug. 9, 2006) and emphasizing the need to “grow strong girls,” the project “proposes to empower girls to identify and stay in their true bodies and maintain and grow their authentic voices.” (See the 2005 CityBeat cover story on True Body Project, "True Body and the Write Stuff.")

"Young girls become so uncomfortable in their bodies they disconnect from them,” observes Sims, project director. “And then, when they still feel the uncomfortable feelings of youth — things they aren't often given the chance to explore and express — they begin to further medicate themselves to block out the feelings of the body and self entirely. The behaviors are troubling — drinking, smoking, eating disorders, promiscuity and cutting their flesh. Less obvious and perhaps more insidious is the silencing of the authentic, artistic voice."

Presented at the School of Creative and Performing Arts (SCPA) with Cincinnati-area girls and women ages 9-70, the performance attempts to discover the truth about our complex relationship to our bodies. Run time is about 50 minutes.

Body Language: A Radical Truth
School of Creative and Performing Arts
1310 Sycamore St., Over-the-Rhine

Thursday, May 29 at 8:15 p.m.
Friday, May 30 at 9 p.m.
Saturday, May 31 at 4:30 p.m.
Monday, June 2 at 7:30 p.m.

For ticket information, visit www.cincyfringe.com. For more information about the True Body Project, visit www.truebodyproject.org or write info@truebodyproject.org.

— Margo Pierce

Comments

[SamW]

Ingres?