‘Pieces of She’ performance a celebration of women

Janelle Silverman - Entertainment Beat

Appalachian State University female students and faculty will perform the seventh annual production of “Pieces of She” Feb. 20-23 at 8 p.m. in I.G. Greer Arena Theatre.

Andrea Gilkey and Marie Anderson, two Appalachian State students, are the artistic directors for this year’s production. Their jobs were to publicize the auditions, help determine who would be in which part of the show based on the auditions, then go to all the rehearsals to make sure the show is ready to perform, said Gilkey.

Gilkey and Anderson received assistance from this year’s six-member committee, which helped pick the cast and materials that would be performed in the show. They also received help from faculty advisor Anna Ward from the Department of Theater and Dance.

“It is a celebration of women,” said Gilkey.

The all-female cast will perform several dancing, acting and singing scenes depicting the experiences and lives of women.

Gilkey says the show “is all in good fun,” and this year’s show will be done in a much different light than last year. There will not be as much “male-bashing” since the show has been criticized in the past for its outlook on men. This year, they will show there is more to women than that, with a more humorous outlook, said Gilkey.

Also different from years past, there will be more acting and singing, rather than dance productions. In fact, there will be only one dance performance in the show this year, said Anderson. Not all actors are theater majors or have experience with acting. Random students and faculty on campus who showed interest in the production will be performers in the show, said Gilkey.

“This year we are focusing on a positive experience,” said Anderson.
“We want to emphasize sisterhood and how we are connected together.”

Anderson also emphasized the idea the show will celebrate sisterhood, along with brotherhood, since women are connected to men as well, in a positive way.

Women on campus or within the community wrote all the pieces performed in the show. The writers submitted their materials before the auditioning process. The committee then reviewed all submissions before deciding which performers to cast in each work.

Lyndsay Cox and Jessica Pearson are the assistant directors for the show. The two girls helped the committee pick the pieces and cast the actors in the appropriate scenes. “The fun comes when everyone is all together,” said Cox.

Cox encourages men to come to the show and emphasizes it is not a show against men but a show “empowering women.”

Cox and Pearson are learning from this year’s artistic directors so they can take over the show next year as directors of the production.

Artwork created by women will be hung up around the set as a backdrop for the production, said Gilkey. All the artwork has been created by students and family members of the cast or is from the university’s Department of Art.