Director’s Note: 

I think PINK! is about how the expectations and pressures of misogyny sneak into spaces where men aren’t present; how girls surveil themselves and each other and how far they’ll go to achieve an impossible “perfect” ideal of womanhood. At the same time, the girls know they’re doing it — the play takes characters contending with dehumanization and objectification, and grants them complexity and personhood. Their behaviors are defense mechanisms, and they treat each other with shocking cruelty because they (correctly) believe that’s how the world will treat them. “We have to talk about these things or else we’ll never learn,” says Zoe, earlier in PINK!. If we can explore these words, ideas, and behaviors in the safe, intimate spaces we share with our closest friends, maybe it won’t hurt so bad when we’re encountering it out in the “real” world. 

In the process of exploring these themes, I wanted to create the exact opposite environment in our rehearsal room. I chose to create a team without men, and I wanted to build a supportive space where my actors and designers felt empowered to dive headfirst into the challenging material without having to shrink themselves or deny the experiences they’ve had with misogyny. We created rehearsal rituals based on caring for ourselves and each other, and we crafted a community of love and trust which gave us the space in our practice to actually challenge the horrible things the play itself is critiquing. 

After the full-length version of PINK! went up last weekend, the cast and I had a long conversation about our experiences finally showing this play to an audience. Arcadia shared something that stood out to me; she said that for the first time while performing, she was not thinking about if she looked good. “I wanted to look gross,” she said, and the rest of the cast agreed. This play and this team helped me imagine a world where everyone, and especially 12-year-old girls, can be a little grosser and care a little less about how we might be seen by men. I hope it invites you to do the same.