To laugh in the face of the pandemic, Milwaukee’s theater group The Constructivists are staging a new dark comedy, Women Laughing Alone with Salad, poking fun at the “strangely ubiquitous advertising trend of attractive women blissfully eating salad.” The play will run virtually from Wednesday, Sept. 30, through Sunday, Oct. 4.
“It’s a dark comedic exploration of the cultural standards by which women—and all people—are made to judge themselves,” says Jaimelyn Gray, artistic director of The Constructivists.
The play focuses on the male character, Guy (played by Rob Schreiner), who is surrounded by three women in his life: Sandy (Sabra Michelle), his mother; Tori (Paige Bourne), his girlfriend; and Meredith (Liz Ehrler), a woman “who blows his mind that he meets in a bar,” Grey explains.
“Guy is stumbling through interactions and failing to communicate with these women in his life, and it touches on the pressure that they all put on themselves from these media sources that are always in our faces. Especially, now that we are all in the online environment constantly, we just see images of what we are told to eat, drink and do on social media; these four characters are struggling through existence and trying to be these perfect versions of themselves.”
The Constructivists promise a very funny play, although one with an edge and a bite. “It is super dark, and caution is advised for younger people,” Grey warns. “Our productions are entertaining, but the nice part is that the pieces that we pick make you think a little bit.”
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Actors will be offering four live performances, plus a recorded performance that can be streamed at any time, through Zoom. “I am not brave enough to put actors together on stage right now,” Gray jokes, as she promises that the final production will be ingeniously put together. These hurdles are “kind of cool,” she says, “because it pushes your boundaries and makes your creative mind explode with how to best communicate the play.”
Tickets, which will grant you a link to stream the performance at any time you choose during its run time, are pay-what-you-can—although a $20 donation is encouraged.
“All of us in the Milwaukee theater community want to continue offering people the relief and joy and all those feelings that you get from theater,” Gray says. After Women Laughing Alone with Salad, the company is planning a couple of reading series this winter, in particular bolstering the works of younger, BIPOC (black, Indigenous and people of color) artists, followed by a new play development effort to help local playwrights bring a play of theirs to the next level. Then, in the spring, if possible, they will remount The Nether, their futuristic play that was disturbed by the beginning of COVID-19 in March 2020.
For more information and tickets, visit theconstructivists.org or call 414-858-6874.
To read more theater reviews and previews, click here.
To read more articles by Jean-Gabriel Fernandez, click here.
