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[Pictured] Cast and Director of And Then She Ate Me. Photography by Will Pearson[/caption]A profound but unanswered question is asked in the hopes that the audience reads into it’s greater meaning. Manic repetition about a bird versus a flower creates a split in the room to be resolved democratically. Prop pieces are both deliberately and delicately littered around the house to allow theatergoers to better understand their subject. Via script, blocking, and vision, a house becomes a stage and two young women become grandmothers.

Go and see And Then She Ate Me, which is a performance that takes place in a house every night until March 9th on 120 Aberdeen Avenue. The play is a product of Ring’O Rosie Collective which consists of three young women named Lily Ross-Millard, Miranda Jones, who are the actors, and the Director Anne White.

The play uses the ambiance of what at one point would have been considered a suburban home to create a setting that is equal parts a loving home and witch coven. The three women work in tandem to allow audiences to explore the mysticism found within empowered femininity. The actors implore the audience to ask hard questions about the women in their life. Did she wear make up? Did she love herself? Was she good at sex?

These questions force people to expand on the definition of the women in their life in a way that makes audience members return their mother’s calls. When women’s issues are discussed, there is a tendency for men to talk about them in terms of their relationship with them. “I love women, I have sisters, daughters, and wives”.

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Photo by Will Pearson[/caption]

This method of talking about women serves to rob them of their autonomy. For men to speak of them only in relation to them is to say that women have no inherent value if they are not related to the speaker. And Then She Ate Me is an attempt for these three young women to use the power of their art to dispel these notions of women.

The play not only projects these messages to the audience, but seems to serve as an opportunity for reflection for the actors. In a conversation with Ring’O Rosie Collective, Arthur was able to touch on a key influence for their most recent

production. They talked up Zuffa Theater as a “major creative influence” on their work.

Zuffa Theater believes in drawing upon existing texts and even objects to inspire new pieces of art. This imprint that Zuffa theater left on the collective is evident through the creative use of a cookbook and recipe which rope the audience in by giving them something to interact with.

Anne, the director is ever present during the performance, taking notes and

making her presence known to the audience. She facilitates the migration from room to room and reminds the audience that women who work behind the scenes play no small role in creating ambience and mood that translates into a fulfilling experience.

Audiences are encouraged to partake in the performance which spans just over two hours in 120 Aberdeen Avenue.

The show lags at certain points, but the way the play is structured, even when one’s eyes wander they often fall on different objects around the house that beckon the question, what stories do these items tell?

Find out these stories by going to And Then She Ate Me as soon as possible.