And Everything Nice at Anam Cara Theatre Company Stimulates Examination & Discussion
Historical figures are placed in modern contexts in Anam Cara Theatre Company’s world premiere of And Everything Nice: A Purity Anti-Manifesto for the Stage. The play explores how society has perpetually disempowered females by controlling their bodies and sexualities. Written by Trish Cole, the show runs June 3, 4, 10, 11, 16 & 17 at Toy Boat Community Art Space, 101 Fairview Road in Asheville.
The main plot features a 15-year-old girl who begs her parents to let her go to the homecoming dance. In response, her father offers her a deal that she can go, but must first pledge her purity. This young girl is interested in exploring the idea of sex, but feels shame for such desires. “She and her friends acquire a type of hysteria as a result of the cognitive dissonance resulting in sexual desire versus shame and purity culture,” says the show’s director Missy Bell. “How can you want something you should not want? How can you stop wanting it? Why do you want it if it is wrong?”
Subplots include the story of Adam and Eve as Eve learns what it means to be created second to Adam, and Joan of Arc as a young girl who wishes to join the football team. Trish says she hopes to articulate connections that have not been as frequently discussed, such as the misogyny behind witch hunting. She says, “It made sense to make time non-sequential because it all feels very simultaneous to me…I wanted to explore all of the historical similarities, the threads, the root, the origin. All at once.”
This production is for mature audiences. Performances begin at 8 P.M. Tickets ($15 advance, $18 at the door) can be purchased online at anamcaratheatre.org or by calling 828.633.1773.
