Touchstone Theater premieres an original work that looks at friendship and hard-to-answer questions in the thoughtful, poignant “Language of Dolls.”
The piece, created and performed by long-time friends Lizzie Olesker, Peggy Pettitt and Louise Smith, is powerful and brutally honest as the three women come together to examine what makes them the same as well, and more critically, what makes them different.
“Language of Dolls” continues through March 8 at Touchstone Theatre, 321 E. Fourth St., Bethlehem; and is part of Touchstone’s “UnBound Year-Round,” a year-long reframing of its “Festival Unbound.”
Olesker who is Jewish, Pettitt who is Black and Smith who is Irish, are authentic and passionate as they engage in conversations about identity and race, sparked by the discovery of a box of dolls.
The premise is the three friends have come to a cabin in the woods to re-connect. The dialogue is free-form alternating between traditional dialogue and breaking the fourth wall as they discuss the writing of the play.
The story taking place in the woods connects the women with nature as they observe the trees and hear the sometimes unsettling sounds of the forest. (Olesker is particularly adept at imitating the call of a loon).
Smith talks about the interconnectivity of the trees through fungi that create a thread-like network underground that connects with tree roots.
The women discuss how their “hair is history” as they relate their personal experiences with women and hair and how it affects their sense of self.
Throughout, the three women are constantly in movement, switching chairs, dancing to music and taking turns crawling under the table.
A dream sequence utilizing sheets is both playful and devastating.
Pettits delivers a series of haunting monologues prompted by the dolls, that look at the higher rate of maternal death and infant mortality in black and brown women and how a black baby boy becomes someone people fear when he grows up.
How the history and experiences of the black and white friends are different is debated, and ultimately accepted amid uncomfortable conversations. These are questions that don’t have easy answers. Rather than try to fix things, the women offer witness and acknowledgement.
In the ultimately uplifting finale, they find strength in their friendship as they clasp hands in solidarity.
The set features natural branches on both the lower and upper level of the stage evoking a dreamy woods-like setting, that feels just right.
Following each performance, audience members can take part in a guided discussion related to the issues and questions that the piece raises such as ‘what messages around race have we received from the time we were born and carried throughout our lives? ‘ and ‘how does our interconnectivity as friends help us resist rigid categorizations?’
The women will host a Storycircle Workshop at 2 p.m. March 7 at Touchstone Theatre. Using a methodology first used by John O’Neal of the Free Southern Theater, participants will be invited to share personal stories across different experiences and to create theatrical moments that emerge from real life narratives. The workshop is free but space is limited. Register by calling 610-867-1689.
Tickets are $35 for adults and $25 for students and seniors.
Performances are 8 p.m. March. 6 and 7; and 2 p.m. March 8.
For information, call 610-867-1689, or go to www.touchstone.org/.