Two University students featured in Fringe show

Project Girl Performance Collective (PGPC) debuted their newest show, "GirlPower: Survival of the Fittest," at this summer's Fringe Festival.

The cast of young women between ages 13-21 featured two University students, sophomore acting major Dominique Fishback and senior acting major Kristen Gonzalez, as well as incoming Freshman Nora Kennedy.

"GirlPower" was written, choreographed, and performed completely by the cast. The show focuses on issues that are important to all young women such as body image, sexuality, relationships and bullying.

Most cast members based their monologues and songs on personal experiences, which gave the audiences members a more honest and raw picture of what it is like to navigate the world as a young girl.

In "Beds," written by Emily Rupp, the three performers Rupp, Camille Theobald and Katherine Scott discuss bringing their rapists to justice.

The short scene is heartbreaking, especially when one of the performers begins to cry, but serves as a good lesson to other young women to stand up for themselves if they are ever in a similar situation.

"Divided by Two" written and performed by Fishback was an equally emotional piece. Using spoken word poetry, Fishback discusses the struggle of wanting to have good relationships with both her biological father and her step-father. She is conflicted about what man to call "dad" when both of them have been important influences in her life.

There are some more lighthearted moments in the show, as well. Thoebald's song "Diets" performed by the entire cast had audience members laughing as they sang about the pitfalls of many popular diet methods.

Later in the show, the "Virgin Support Group" scene written by Gonzalez and performed by Gonzalez, Fishback, Rupp, Theobald, Arianna Hanson and Andira Rodriguez gave audiences a humorous look at the lengths young woman who are still virgins must sometimes go to in order to stay that way.

While these pieces are comical on the surface, they still deal with more serious issues, like the crazy methods women use to stay thin and be more attractive or the pressures women face to become sexually active even when they are not comfortable.

The show is divided into separate songs, monologues and scenes but it is held together by Rupp's ongoing song about women's suffrage, "GirlPower" and small "Reality Checks" where cast members have a chance to speak honestly about something important to them.

The three directors of the show, Ashley Marinaccio, Elizabeth Koke and Jessica Greer Morris hope that "GirlPower" will be able to highlight serious issues facing young women in our society and generate discussion with audience members about their own perceptions of women.

One portion of the show, "Tools for Survival," was interactive in exactly this way. Cast members shouted out their own personal tools of survival and then encouraged audience members to do the same.

After one performance, there was a post-show discussion where audience members could speak directly to the performers more about their experiences and how the performances impacted them.

The three directors co-founded PGPC which produced "GirlPower" to help create openness and empowerment for young women in the mostly male-dominated entertainment industry.

Their mission statement explains "The Project Girl Performance Collective (PGPC) empowers young women by creating a safe space to address contemporary social, political and cultural issues through the performing arts and written word.

The Project Girl Performance Collective is committed to the idea of theater and performance as a medium for awareness, action and social change."

With "GirlPower," the cast and directors were able to continue to advance this mission with another thoughtful and emotional show.

If you didn't have a chance to see "GirlPower" this summer, PGPC will be performing again in October as part of the Estrogenius festival.