Where STEM Reigns, Students Deliver A Powerful All-Women Production

An ensemble of science and engineering students will produce Samantha Macher's ten-woman monologue play To the New Girl at Missouri University of Science and Technology in December. The special two-night run of the show will happen on December 9 and 10.

The 10-woman show is a series of monologues performed one at a time by the cast, each character is a women scorned who directly address their exes' new wives and lovers, or 'the new girl.'

"I think this play is important to share right now, honestly at any time," says Emelaine Foster, a freshman studying mechanical engineering who plays the character of Bethany, a wife worried how her husband's affair will affect his career. "It highlights a range of experiences that women may face in the dating world, and it gives the audience space to reflect on how these stories make them feel through the lens of their own experiences and social norms. It's meaningful, relatable, and worth discussing."

"This play highlights the experience that is being a woman and experiencing forms of abuse from those around us," cast member Abigail LeBar adds, an engineering management senior.

"It's really exciting to see so many women come together to tell this story and share it with our community," Ms. Foster answers when asked about the rehearsal space. "It also gives me the chance to meet more amazing women who are in a similar place academically."

When talking to the cast of the show, the topic of female voices inside a heavy STEM setting is often brought up. "It can be really hard to connect with other women in male-dominated areas," says Jamie Morley-Park, an engineering management and economics major. "In this rehearsal space, specifically for this show, it's nice to not feel that kind of male-centered pressure that is so prominent at S&T."

Mary Lucy, a ceramics engineering major who plays a teacher going through divorce, adds, "Women's mental health is a super important topic, especially [at] a campus where the ratio of women is small, it's important that our voices are heard." Mary does worry that the show description could keep some people away. "I hope that many people who aren't women or who aren't involved in theatre come to see the show because I think it's a one-of-a-kind play that everyone can learn something from."

When asked why it was important to them to create time to be involved in theatre while being a busy engineering student, Maryanne McNally says, "I would go insane." A metallurgical engineering major, Maryanne believes theatre to be a creative outlet that allows her learning mode to stay active, adding, "My day would consist of little joy, and I would be without any way to let out all the emotions floating around my head. There is nothing that beats sense of self that the arts bring." Maryanne plays Elissa in a modern retelling of the Dido and Aeneas myth.

Even with the heavy material, the ensemble seems to be having fun delving into this process. "It's been a blast," says Keir Williams. A psychology major who plays a character asking her ex's new fiancé for her ring back, is finding the excitement in doing something new. "It's an atypical structure from shows I've done before and being a director and an actor at the same time is so fun."

The production has all the actors in the show directing each other, one actor being the director for another.

Ms. LeBar, who plays a woman in denial about her husband's new children with a mistress, says the theatre program at Missouri S&T, "is a fun outlet." But she affirms, "It's also demanding and exhausting work. I see my fellow engineering students use their degree to build sets and design lights, so we are truly emphasizing the spirit of S&T while producing works of art. We don't come in here to blow off steam, we come in here to do the work, because that's what we know how to do. And we're learning what it takes to affect an audience." After Abigail catches herself getting passionate about her art, she's able to crack a smile and add, "but we do also come in to blow off steam." She gives off an infectious laugh. "There's a lot of steam in this show."

To the New Girl will run December 9 and 10, a Tuesday and Wednesday night, at 7 p.m. in The Black Box Theatre on the campus of Missouri University of Science and Technology. The Black Box Theatre is in Castleman Hall, a shared building with Leach Theatre at 400 W. 10th Street in Rolla, MO.

Tickets can be reserved by emailing the Arts, Languages, & Philosophy department's theatre professor at gruenloht@mst.edu. Tickets are a "pay what you can" donation at the door, to allow any and all interested in seeing the show to come, and to raise money for a local nonprofit that aims to help raise awareness about domestic violence and resources for victims.

Information about the department and the university's theatre program can be found at alp.mst.edu.