Event

GIRLS

Paint what you see. Paint what you feel. Paint what is real to you"
Robert Henri

Who teaches us to be who we are? Does art have the power to transform ? Tina is a young painter searching for affirmation of her choice to be an artist. Remembering a series of portraits that inspired her in college, she offers to paint the portraits of four girls living in a local foster home. Tina plans to give the paintings as a gift in the hope that they will help the girls see themselves in a new way, with choices and options that might not seem possible given their limited resources. For the girls adolescence is a time when growing is scary, being in the moment is almost unbearable, and going back is an impossible wish. Do Tinas portraits assist the girls in facing their own fears? Who will be transformed the painter or the subject?

Originally commissioned for Live Girls! reading series The Bakery, the story of Girls was inspired by the work of Northwest painter Kathleen Houlahan. A collection of her paintings were displayed at MOHAI in 2005 including a series of portraits of young women living at the Ruth School for Wayward Girls. in the 1930s Kathleen visited the home for girls that had become wards of the state to paint portraits of them as a gift to boost their self esteem. Kathleen Houlahan was a student of Robert Henri the leader of the American realist art movement known as the Ashcan school and a nationally recognized painter in her time.

GIRLS was written by Seattle playwright Zoe Fitzgerald, directed by Meghan Arnette and features: Kitty Barkley, Ciana Calos-Nakano, Maddy Carroll-Novack, Amy Conant, Caroline Kangas, and Rachel Sydney Keylin. The production team includes: Jason Franklin as Dramaturg, Meggan Davis as Stage Manager, Laura Lindle as Asst. Stage Manager and Props,, Amanda Neitze as Lighting Designer, and Brian Stricklan as portrait painter.