With the opening of Reviving Ophelia this weekend, the Olympia Family Theater has found the perfect vessel to deliver upon their mission statement. The group was formed with the intentions of stimulating dialogues within the community using affordable children’s theater. With this play, however, the target audience is a little bit older, and the subject matter is a little more engrossing.



Based on the best-selling adolescent psychology book by Dr. Mary Pipher, the play was adapted by Cherie Bennett with the blessing of the author. The book deals with what Pipher calls “a look-obsessed, media-saturated, girl-poisoning culture.” The stage adaptation is designed to showcase several episodes of adolescent development in younger girls that lead to self-esteem issues and self-defeating actions, and ultimately leave the audience questioning the role of society in raising teenage girls. That is exactly what co-directors Samantha Chandler and Ted Ryle were looking for in their narrative-inducing theater group.

“It’s been very inspirational for a lot of people as far as looking at adolescent girls’ lives,” says Chandler. “It sends a positive and realistic message about the struggles they go through.”



With a very small cast and crew, many of whom are parents, the play has struck an intensely personal chord. China Star remembers the book coming out as she finished high school, and reading it has helped her in raising her own daughter. Ryle, the father of three teenage daughters, has found working with two of them on the production an enlightening and profound experience. Katie Reed, a Native American, portrays a Native American girl adopted by white parents and was able to draw on her experiences growing up on   the reservation.



“There is not one part of my character I  don’t identify with,” says Reed. “I was the whitest-looking kid in tribal school. I know what she’s going through.”



Holding true to their credo, the troupe has planned two experimental shows that encourage audience participation as a means of building the community dynamic. Utilizing a technique called “Theatre of the Oppressed,” the play takes a different turn toward the end, when any willing audience member is invited to come forward out of the crowd and take a shot at changing the role of any character they feel is being oppressed or dominated by another character, thus allowing a new role to blossom and shape the events in a new and different way. They are also planning a “Forum Theater” performance and will host a series of question-and-answer sessions after the performances in the continuing effort to build a bridge between audience and show. There are plans also to workshop the show in connection with the Gateway Program from The Evergreen State College, which would take the show to incarcerated youths in southwestern Washington.



[The Midnight Sun Performance Space, Reviving Ophelia, May 23-June 8 7 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 1 p.m. Saturday-Sunday, $8-$15, pay what you can May 24 at 1 p.m., Theatre of the Oppressed performances will be May 25 and June 6, 113 Columbia St., downtown Olympia, olyft.org]