A ragtag group of pals will stop at nothing to find their place back on top. Splitz deserved to win, but Missy stole first place.
Set in the cutthroat world of high school gymnastics, Girls! Girls! Girls! follows the Friday-night exploits of four teenage chums as they seek revenge for a loss on the vaulting horse.
Presented by Excavation Theatre, the show — written by Canadian play-write Greg MacArthur and directed by Langley’s Jessica Anne Nelson — runs nightly at 8 p.m. until July 29 at Havana Theatre, 1212 Commercial Dr. in Vancouver.
Told in a hypnotic, rap-meets-nursery-rhymes style, Girls! Girls! Girls! is brutally violent as it explores what happens when emptiness becomes the norm, and the struggle for power and control rules over everyone.
A British Columbia premiere, MacArthur’s script is in response to the events surrounding the death of Reena Virk in Victoria, and by the Columbine massacre in Colorado, USA. In the world he has created, characters are on a journey that many youth go through in one way or another — from powerless child to powerful adult.
These teenagers feel that they cannot stop the path they’re on; the wheels are in motion and they’re unable to see that their violent actions have real long term consequences.
“I wanted to be involved with Girls! Girls! Girls! because I was so interested and curious about each character, and their human conditions,” said actor Demi Pedersen.
“After reading the play for the first time, I was terrified of these girls and found myself asking the big ‘why?’ Why do teens do the things that they do under certain circumstances? I wanted an opportunity to put myself in these flawed, almost monstrous shoes, and ultimately find the humanity that lies within them.”
Nelson is also the artistic director of Excavation Theatre, and has won numerous theatre awards, including the Vancouver Fringe Festival’s Best Site Specific Show Award for her production of Meanwhile, the UBC Graduate Support Initiative Award, the UBC John Brockington Scholarship in Theatre, and the UBC Sydney J. Risk Award in Directing.
Joining Nelson as part of the artistic team are: Riley Davis, Bronwyn Henderson, Sachi Nisbet, Demi Pedersen, and Isabella St Clair. The production also features the designs of David Cowling (sound design), Alaia Hamer (costume design), Vanka Salim (set and props design), Sara Smith (lighting design), Samantha Pawliuk (stage manager), and Ryan McNeill Bolton, Mike Kovac, and Sylvie La Riviere (fight directors).
Tickets for Girls! Girls! Girls! are $20 and available online at girls-girls-girls.eventbrite.ca.
More details are available at Facebook.com/ExcavationTheatre.