Peer pressure. Eating disorders. Cutting—Skin or school? Sex, drugs, and music. Am I gay? Boys? Friends? OMG, welcome to the world of adolescent girls, as depicted by Facebook Me: The Play, an official selection of the 2011 New York International Fringe Festival. Parents can learn a lot from this autobiographical ensemble effort.
Everybody's Talking About Me
If you are out of the loop, what’s different about living your life out loud on Facebook (FB) is the immediacy of global exposure. That old hyperbole “everyone knows,” is no longer an exaggeration. Coercion and bullying are accomplished with a few keystrokes, and the moral compass has no true north. We’re all connected, but how do you know whom to trust?
Even if you are old enough to be avoiding FB, it may come as a surprise that the lives of teenaged girls haven't changed much since the time of FB creator Mark Zuckerberg's great great grandmother. In this play you hear from the smart girls; in fact, most of the cast and creators currently attend many of New York and Connecticut’s toniest prep schools. They get 97s on their science projects, but the older they get, the less certain they are about relationships even if they can afford the best, and most revealing clothes. The girls are smart enough to know that Zuckerberg’s idea for Facebook derived from his own catty system for rating girls’ hotness, but at the same time they are powerless against that same rating system as it humiliates them on Facebook.
Keep Your Friends Close--If You Can Figure Out Who They Are
The script of Facebook Me captures the poignant irony that the younger the girl, the more likely she is to want to preserve her individuality. As Sarah (played by Danielle Stefania) plans to post a profile picture wearing a rhinestone tiara, her geeky image is vetoed by a more experienced, er, friend, Stella (Eliza Price). Sarah questions the shallowness of Facebook “friending,” but Stella prevails. Parents exist only by implication in this play, phoning in to reassert curfews or other intrusive rules or, horrifyingly, to humiliate daughters like Penny (Fiona McSweeney-Glynn) by describing their daughters’ childish temper tantrums in their, um, status. Whatever happened to the boundaries?
High-End Production Values and Talented Cast
Company Creators, teens Danielle Cohen, Rachel Covey, and Julia McDermott have rendered a world that forces the audience to think. The ten member cast also includes Winnifred Bonjean-Alpart, Alexa Caban, Vikku Eugenis, Sophie Hearn, Kendra Jain, Naila Perez-Stringari, and India Witkin, many of whom participated in last year’s Keep Your Eyes Open, also produced by Arts Effect, which won the 2008 FringeNYC Most Outstanding Ensemble Award.
Production values are high with many talented professionals contributing to the high-end mise-en-scene, which includes projections and film. The uniset depicts many conventional teen environments, and is ably Stage Managed by Danielle O’Dea. The team includes Jeremi Chenier (Graphic Designer), Starlet Jacobs (Set Designer), Gemma Kaneko (Lighting Designer), and Grant McDonals (Media Designer). TheArts Effect Directors, Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney, were also assisted by Lauren Viola and Jamie Wolfe.
What I Did on My Summer Vacation
Art imitates life in some deliciously ironic ways in this play; of particular note is the meta-message of some girls deliberately texting from their phones offstage while waiting at the sides to make an entrance. It makes you nostalgic for a time when light ushered in the mellowest of feelings and positive connections instead of distracting us from where we are walking. One thing is for certain the All Girl Theater Company participants have a powerful something else going for them beyond the glow of LED screens. Their back-to-school essays won’t be boring after this stand-up effort at the New York City Fringe. What about the girls who aren’t so lucky to have these artistic alternatives?
Katie Cappiello and Meg McInerney, the adults behind The Arts Effect, have nurtured this dramatic creation through their organization, developing a 10-girl ensemble of the All-Girl Theater Company. The world of Cyndi Lauper’s winking anthem, “Girls Just Want to Have Fun,” is a mere touch screen away from the advanced sexual fantasies of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” Six million girls are vulnerable, and The Arts Effect has found a way to insist we consider their fates.
Buck the Trend: Think for Yourself if You Can
How did the audience respond? While waiting in line to enter the theater, mothers could be overheard coaching their daughters about how to judge the play: “You don’t have to like it. Daddy said he didn’t,” said one. Judging from the applause and the standing ovation at the end, that was like waving a red flag at a bull, if she meant “like” in the FB sense of the word. The play is anything but warm and fuzzy. It’s, like, much more “real,” and we should pay attention to where it nettles.
Parents cannot afford to ignore the consequences of their daughters' media exposure, and many would do well to think about the presentation of their own "faces" on the Internet. Girls--and boys--take away lessons from the way the adults behave. If you find yourself trying to reach your child and she fails to friend you, get worried. Unplug yourselves and communicate in person. There's no better antidote for cyber victimization.
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