Mirror Mirror Up Close

In a recent poll by ELLEgirl of 10,000 readers, 30 percent said they would rather be thin than healthy. Against a backdrop of statistics such as this, Russell Sage students, led by director Leigh Strimbeck, developed Mirror Mirror, an original theatre production about beauty and body image.

Class discussions fueled the script as did interviews that students conducted with the women in their lives. The result is a production that reflects the personal concerns of college women and their wider view of the objectification of the women’s bodies. The production received media attention and inspired “Body Reflections,” a collaboration of Russell Sage programs, that brought mothers and daughters to campus for interactive class sessions and a performance of Mirror Mirror.

Read on, as director Leigh Strimbeck, Creative and Performing Arts Professor David Baecker, and actor Phyillicia Bishop ’09 share the inspiration for the project, what made the project so important to Russell Sage and to them personally, and where the project goes from here.

Teaching, Entertaining & Telling the Truth                                                                  by David Baecker, Assistant Professor of Theatre

I have always been attracted to theatre as a powerful way to teach and tell stories. Those stories can be like sweet junk food or a three course meal, but it’s the latter that tend to stay with you longer. If, as a theatre professional and professor, I can teach, entertain and tell the truth (and foster these traits in students), then I’m in heaven.

In addition to my work teaching in the Creative and Performing Arts Department at The Sage Colleges, I’ve been lucky to be a part of the WORLD courses. WORLD is an acronym for “Women Owning Responsibility for Learning and Doing” and as a part of that class, we read autobiographies of women, and discuss them in relation to our own experiences. One thing I  notice – as the only male in the class – is the  prevalence of conversation about body image.

I rarely feel ill-equipped for teaching at a women’s college; after all, knowledge is knowledge. There are some topics however, like body image, that while I may have a cursory intellectual understanding, do not feel as deeply ingrained in my gender experience. I can only listen and learn.

About a year ago, I asked Leigh Strimbeck, a director I admire, if she would work with my students on a play. She said yes, especially if she could create a new piece on beauty and body image. It was a lovely moment of synchronicity that resulted in   Mirror Mirror, an original play written by its student ensemble especially for the community at Russell Sage College.

Far from being heavy drama, Mirror Mirror used laughter and irony as a way to look at ourselves. One of my favorite pieces, “The Wonderful World of Homosapiens” was a mock documentary by an intellectual pig describing the process women go through getting ready to go out for the evening. Looking at our lives through the eyes of another species caused  a chuckle and when played against the next scene--a baffled husband discussing his wife’s eating disorder--a great moment of theatre alchemy occurred, when the audience doesn’t know whether to laugh or cry and is beginning to suspect that’s okay.  

The local press took notice, attendance and box office numbers at The James L. Meader Little Theater were strong and Russell Sage students reacted as if the play was produced especially for them--which it was.

I’ve been lucky to find Russell Sage College. Looking at my art form through a pro-feminist perspective has stretched me and taught me things about myself that I would have never learned at a co-ed college. I see it as my responsibility at Sage to present plays that honor women. Not always an easy feat, since most scripts are written by men and male characters outnumber female characters three to one.

But, by encouraging the student-actors in Mirror Mirror to teach, entertain and tell the truth, a script emerged that is as complicated and courageous as Russell Sage students themselves.

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A DREAM COME TRUE: Creating Mirror Mirror at Russell Sage College                   by Leigh Strimbeck, actor, director, and teacher 

The show that became Mirror Mirror at Russell Sage College was a long held dream of mine. That I met and worked with Russell Sage Creative and Performing Arts Professor David Baecker on a project outside the College, and that he wanted to bring me in to direct was happy circumstance. When you are a freelance director and actor, it’s not often that someone says, “Well, what do you really want to do?” which is what David asked when we had our first discussion about potential scripts I could direct. I told David I had always wanted to work with young women on a performance piece about body image. The idea was as wide open as that.  

The workshop version in spring 2007, for which we had six rehearsals and created a half an hour of material, showed that it was a rich topic. The cast was six Russell Sage students. A year later, when we went back into rehearsal, there were eight students from the College, and two girls from high schools in the area.  

In both processes, the cast surveyed at least three people with a list of questions we created in advance. In the second rehearsal, all the cast members were required to read Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters by Courtney Martin. These assignments served as a springboard for the discussions that began each rehearsal. And from the discussions came the work: I would send one cast member to write about something she had “gone off” about in rehearsal, or a team to improvise around an idea or scene from life that we had discussed.

The process was intense, like being on a fast train and picking up and throwing out things as the train hurtles down the tracks. The cast was amazing, throwing themselves into idea after idea with abandon. And the resulting show, Mirror Mirror, is something of which I am enormously proud.

As I write this, the cast will reunite in a few weeks for two shows locally.We are re-rehearsing and putting the show on the road because the response to the show was so enthusiastic. Over and over I heard, “You have got to bring this show to high schools, you have to get it on the road!”

I believe the response is such because these young women were empowered through theatre to speak their truth about various pressures they’ve faced to conform, to comply, to fit in. When audiences saw this show, they saw a group of young women whose voices were coming across loud and clear. And let me say, there is no small amount of humor in the way they express themselves.

There were two other outcomes to this work that I am delighted with: David Baecker stayed close to the production in all phases and working with him was a joy from beginning to end; and Russell Sage has offered me an Artist in Residence position. I will teach at the College, and create work about issues that women face today. My idea is to expand upon the Mirror Mirror model. I will spend a semester in research with students, and then a semester developing the original work. I hope to take each show to high schools and other colleges, spreading the word that Russell Sage is about vibrant young women being educated in innovative ways.

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Reflections on Mirror Mirror                                                                                           by Phyillicia Bishop '09

Mirror Mirror was the second theatre production that I was part of at Russell Sage. The experience of not only performing in, but creating a work of art was very beneficial. The way women are portrayed in the media today contribute to eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorder, which occurs when a person’s preoccupation with an imagined or minor defect causes psychological distress.

Before coming up with a script, I, along with the rest of the cast, had to research this particular topic. We read women’s magazines, such as Cosmopolitan; paid close attention to commercials; and read books such as Skinny Bitch and Perfect Girls Starving Daughters. We all realized that although fashion magazines are geared to women for their so called well being, the articles tell women how to please someone else. We realize  those magazines are not empowering at all and we also are aware that pictures of women in magazines are airbrushed and edited.

I have two favorite scenes in Mirror Mirror.  One is “Bitch Woman.” The title is an acronym for “Babe In Total Control of Herself,” and the scene deals with situations in which women don’t speak up when they are uncomfortable with a situation. However, if every woman let the “Babe in Total Control of Herself” inside speak, than our voices would be more audible.

My other favorite scene is “Celebrity Body Shop.” Every day women are worried about their image and what they can do to look better, however they don’t realize that when you erase what you are born with, you erase a piece of yourself. In the scene, the young woman asks a beauty store clerk, “How much is it for everything?” The store clerk responds, “Your individuality!”

Not only was this a production, it was a healing process for me because of the many body image issues I faced growing up, when I was always monitored on my weight gain. What attracted me to Mirror Mirror was the opportunity to help women realize that a size one is not average or normal. Mirror Mirror is a very important project because without reassurance and or support, it is very hard for young women to feel comfortable about their body and gain confidence. If there is any way I can help educate women about the truth and give them comfort in their own skin, I will jump at the opportunity. I hope to continue acting in plays that make a difference in other individual’s lives.