Impenetrable
Norma Serna at Clockwise Theatre Company
Cast: 3 women, 1 girl (10-12yrs old), 2 men
In a well-to-do Chicago suburb, a local spa sparks controversy with a billboard ad featuring a photo of a beautiful woman superimposed with arrows suggesting how she could be cosmetically enhanced. The now-hijab-wearing model, the photographer, the Arab spa-owner, a spa regular, her daughter, and a local barista discuss, comment on, and reenact the events leading up to the billboard’s ultimate removal. A look at how body image and societal and cultural pressures affect both men and women’s perceptions of themselves and of each other.
Impenetrable can be downloaded on New Play Exchange.
“...a drama at once disturbing, insightful and unexpectedly humorous... A complex discussion of the impossibly fine line between being admired for one’s beauty and being sexually harassed—or worse—for it.”
Impenetrable was developed, in part, through LeapFest 2010 at Stage Left Theatre. It premiered at Stage Left in September 2012 under the direction of Greg Werstler and was a finalist for the 2013 ATCA Steinberg Award.