BWW Interviews: ACT LIKE A GRRRL '11 Roars Onstage at Belmont's Black Box Theatre

It was one of those moments in life when inspiration, like so much lightening, struck and thereafter nothing would ever be the same...

When Vali Forrister's niece Haviland was 12, she shared with her aunt some of her poetry: "I told her it was good," Vali remembers. But shockingly, Haviland's response was: "No, it isn't. My teachers tell me I'm too dark."

"I realized that the box of what was acceptable in her world was so small that Haviland's voice would never be heard," the wise-beyond-her-years aunt recalls. "So I decided to create a space where Haviland and girls like her could explode the box and be as big and bold as they wanted to be ."

And the result? Vali, with the support of her comrades-in-theater at Nashville's Actors Bridge Ensemble (named as First Night's Outstanding Theater Company of 2010-11), created Act Like A GRRRL, a month-long intensive workshop that brings young women like Haviland (who was part of ALAG's first class) together to explore their own creativity, to find their own voice and to breathe life into their own dreams via a summer theater experience unlike any other.

"At the moment when our culture is asking them to sit down and shut up, Act Like a GRRRL invites teenage girls to stand up and speak out," Vali surmises. " It turns out it was not just Haviland. Research indicates a majority of girls feel anxiety about their present lives and hopelessness about their future. ALAG has become a counter-cultural revolution that invites girls to tell their personal stories and articulate their values in community. Telling your story publicly involves a kind of vulnerability and risk that facilitates growth and independence. It is an invitation to author your own life."

As producing artistic director for one of the region's most acclaimed professional theater companies, Vali Forrister was aghast when, in that initial conversation with Haviland, her niece told her she believed her only career options - in 2004 - were "teacher and secretary."

"It was shocking to me that in the 21^st Century, a well-educated young woman would believe she had so few professional options into which she could grow," she explains. "So, the GRRRLS meet at least 20 guest artists every year: adult women from a variety of professionAl Fields to blow their minds with all the possibilities their future could hold."

Now a junior at Agnes Scott College, Haviland Forrister has a double-major in astrophysics and philosophy, her career objectives far beyond her earlier considerations. During the summer of 2011, she's in Paris, doing optics research, "A far cry from that girl who thought her only options were teacher and secretary," her aunt proudly reports.

Since that rather humble and inauspicious beginning, Act Like a GRRRL has come as far as young Haviland. In March, ALAG was invited to be the United States delegation for the 100th Anniversary Celebration of International Women's Day in San Jose, Costa Rica. The GRRRLS performed along side professional artists from Norway, Spain, Canada, Argentina and Costa Rica.

"They were a huge hit, confirming what I had always suspected: that women and girls around the world are longing for a more powerful voice and when they hear it in another woman, they rejoice and give themselves a little more permission to find it within themselves. This is what we call our 'extra Rs,'" Vali suggests.

In the grand spirit of those 'extra Rs' and in the same courageous notions she's instilled in her niece since that significant 2004 conversation, Vali called upon Hannah Deegan - who's "been a GRRRL since she was 13," and just recently graduated from University School of Nashville, and has now made the transition to co-leader during this summer's edition of Act Like A GRRRL - to serve as the official ALAG spokesperson for the summer, giving her added responsibilities before she starts her college career at Tufts University this fall. In that leadership role, Hannah offers some added insight into ALAG and what it means to girls (sorry, make that GRRRLS) in Nashville and, now, across the globe.

"The GRRRLS are coming! This program isn't a summer camp, it's a revolution," Hannah proclaims. "By counteracting the messages teenage girls receive, opening their eyes to a new layer of themselves, and allowing them to live out loud in a safe environment is a truly life altering experience, but it doesn't stop with them. With each GRRRL that emerges from the program, a new thread of change begins to unravel. It's only going to get bigger and better... get ready!"

Act Like A GRRRL, the 2011 edition, plays two performances (Thursday, June 30 and Friday, July 1) at the Black Box Theatre at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre complex. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. each evening and, at press time, Forrister proudly told us that it is almost a sell-out, suggesting potential audience members call Belmont's Central Ticket Office at (615) 460-8500 to check on the availability of tickets.

How many GRRRLS have gone through it so far? Most GRRRLS come back year after year. This year there are nine GRRRLS in the circle who have done the program at least three years. A total of 33 GRRRLS have gone through the program.

What goes on during the four weeks of Act Like A GRRRRL? A group of girls, ages 12 to 18, from a variety of schools, socio-economic backgrounds, religious affiliations, and places in life, come together for four weeks of transformation during the month of June. Everyday the girls (or GRRRLS once they enter the ALAG circle) share writing sparked by prompts given to the group by co-leaders. Co-leaders are adult mentor figures that guide the girls through the month through provocative questions, new insight, and unconditional support.

In addition to writing introspective pieces and sharing their work, opening themselves for further discussion with the group, the girls participate in a movement portion every morning. This ranges from Forza to yoga to dance (GRRRLS characteristically choreograph their own pieces for the final show).

Every day the GRRRLS also have a guest artist come and speak to them. These guest artists are women from the community who have done original and interesting things in their lives, sharing their experiences, thoughts, and/or crafts with the GRRRLS and showing them the endless possibilities for their own lives.

In the final week of the program, the GRRRLS come together to create a full-length production, comprised of their writing, dances, musical numbers, and other quirky pieces they come up with throughout the month. The program culminates with two performances of their final theatrical product.

How are girls selected to take part in the program? Prospective GRRRLS submit applications online, allowing them to explain why they want to do the program and what they expect to get out of it. They are then called for an interview with the co-leaders, which allows for further discussion of the GRRRL's wish to join the program: part of this is seeing if the program was the girl's idea or the mom's idea (not uncommon), but also to see that the girl has a positive spirit and a determination to better herself.

What's the biggest thing that you take away from the program? The program truly is life changing - GRRRLS not only gain a circle of close, supportive, and unique friends that defy the catty norms teenage girls often embody, but they come to realize a new level of self-worth, creativity, and possibility for the future.

They learn how to live outside of society's box, how to challenge the expectations the world presents to them, and how to speak their own truth through their authentic voice. GRRRLS then go out, and keep the revolution going, setting an example for the other women around them, transforming our girl world into a GRRRL world.

At the end of the four weeks, you have a performance...how does that develop over the course of the month? The writings shared everyday, the dances put together through the month, and creative sparks that fly with each new discussion and guest artist all contribute to the final production. Every year it looks a little bit different-the skeleton of autobiographical monologues stays the same, but themes vary year to year.

One year the show opened with a GRRRL Circus, incorporating questions about female norms in a silly and colorful context. Another year the GRRRLS made a video entitled Sheroes in which each girl created her own feminist superhero persona. The GRRRLS lead the creation process, and every summer brings forth new ideas. It's always a surprise, and it always comes together, miraculously and beautifully.

 

Act Like A GRRRL, the 2011 edition, plays two performances (Thursday, June 30 and Friday, July 1) at the Black Box Theatre at Belmont University's Troutt Theatre complex. Curtain is at 7:30 p.m. each evening. Call Belmont's Central Ticket Office at (615) 460-8500 to check on the availability of tickets.

Photos by Lindsay Bailey

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