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Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Fringe Festival 2015: "Girlhood"

Day: 5

Show: 21

Title: Girlhood

Category: Comedy


Written by: Hailey Colwell (age 11) and Hailey Colwell (age 21)

Location: Mixed Blood Theatre

Summary: A young girl's journal comes to life interspersed with scenes from her present life ten years later.

Highlights: Writer Hailey Colwell turned her childhood journal (from age 11 to 15) into a sweet and poignant play about the hopes, dreams, and disappointments of growing up. Like the movie Boyhood that presumably inspired the name, not much happens, but all of the non-happenings add up to a life. Young Hailey is consumed with friends, school, sports, the school play, and missing her mom. Adult Hailey has similar interests but is also facing the more serious issues of relationships, college, and a career. She's inspired by finding her journal and remembering the dreams she once had that she's since become disillusioned about. Hailey is played by three equally appealing young women of varying ages who look like they could be the same person - Chloe Stromberg, Michaela Stromberg, and Corinne Nugent (I'm assuming at least the first two are related). We also see some journal scenes acted out by the ensemble, along with scenes from the college-aged Hailey's life that relate to the journal entries being read. Along with youthful frivolities, young Hailey has some deeper thoughts, and adult Hailey has done a great job constructing a narrative around them.