Review: The Secret Life of Girls | Dallas Childrens Theater | Rosewood Center for Family Arts

Dallas — It has been said that kids can be cruel. In recent years the advancements in technology, including social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter, has turned what used to be smack-on-the-wrist teasing into a downright epidemic. Cyber-bullying takes playground fights and puts them on a worldwide platform. It allows tormentors to be faceless and seemingly untouchable. A surprising majority of young people find themselves involved in bullying either as victims, tyrants or silent accomplices. All in all it is a dangerous game with often violent and dangerous results.

Bullying is not new, though the severity of it has increased in recent years. It has seen its share of media coverage of late. The recent "It Gets Better" campaign focuses on people who are victimized because of their sexual orientation. Dallas Children's Theater puts girl bullying in the spotlight with a revival of Linda Daugherty's play The Secret Life of Girls.

Initially the term "girl bullying" seems unnecessary. Why does a descriptive word like "bullying" need to be gender specific? The answer, of course, is that when it comes to bullying, teen girls often exercise a brutal combination of psychological warfare and Darwinism. This survival of the fittest mentality often leads to people being expelled from "the group" or clique. This expulsion and isolation is what the female teenage bully is all about. Teen girls are stronger in groups and it's better to be making fun than to be made fun of.

This is the premise of The Secret Life of Girls. It is a story about a group of girls at a school who are exclusionary, first to one girl, Abby (played by Colleen Breen) then one by one they turn on each other until the leader of the pack Stephanie (Reanna Bell) finds herself on the outside and facing her own emotional issues.

The teen girl bully is almost a legendary character. Every teen movie ever made has a clique of mean teen girls. There have been many books and movies of the subject (Mean Girls for instance, which was both a book and a movie). The subject matter and storyline of this show aren't necessarily original. However, when thinking about the purpose of this work, it is not so much to push the boundaries of theater as it is to present a very important message to the people who need it hear it most: teenage girls and their parents. The short runtime of the show combined with the talk back afterwards makes the production feel like an extended After School Special or a skit done in a cafetorium.

The difference between this show and a cafetorium skit is the level of talent in the cast. Director Nancy Shaeffer expertly guides a group of talented teen girls in this play. Colleen Breen, Reanna Bell, Bailey Thixton, Nebyat Teferra, Kendyl Mull, Claire Greenberg and Elizabeth Magill (the actors seen for this review; there are alternating casts) each bring a realness to the dialogue and the overall production. Going with a teen cast (instead of the always questionable "adult that appears to be teenaged") is a critical choice in The Secret Life of Girls. Again, in keeping with the purpose of this production, who better to tell the tales of teen girl life than a group of teen girls? Lisa Fairchild as the enthusiastic coach and Lisa Schreiner as the concerned Mom also add great energy to the dynamic cast.

The bareness of the set adds to the "skit" feeling of the production. Shaeffer makes good use of the space, however, and the different locations in the story (school, home, etc.) are well defined. One theatrical element is the use of projections, displaying Facebook posts and emails between the characters. It's a cool addition but would be better used if more cyberbullying would take place on these screens. The music in the show is good and age appropriate.

The language of the story is interesting. It is realistic in that it's always asking a question, the way that teenagers talk? There are also more than a few curse words and, ahem, adult situations. At first it's a little surprising that a teen show would have this kind of language…at first. After two seconds of reflecting on high school, it is to be expected. The swear words increase towards the end of the show to depict a kind of unruly path down which the girls are travelling.

Overall this show has a good message and is a great forum for parents, teachers and teens. It doesn't push the envelope theatrically and the storyline is a touch cliché, but it is a story that needs to be told as many times as necessary to stop the problem. It is only by putting the issue of girl bullying on the table that can we put a stop the most ferocious of all species, the human teenage female.