On Friday, April 21, 2017, Lick-Wilmerding’s LWOW and Urban’s SWEAR presented the 4th Annual Girl Talk. As in previous years, all money raised by the event was donated to Casa de las Madres, a San Francisco based non-profit organization that provides support to domestic violence survivors of all ages. La Casa’s mission statement describes their vision of “a society in which all individuals and families have equal access to basic resources and asset-building opportunities. In our future, safety and respect in intimate relationships are the norm.”
Girl Talk allows individuals who identify as female to perform personal or anonymous monologues. The night includes musical performances such as Lick-Wilmerding’s all female a cappella group, The Muses. Lauren Bang ‘17, co-leader of the muses with Coco Sachs ‘17 and Natalie Pierce ‘18, adds that the event is one that “creates community unison and empowerment to the voices of female identifying students.”
In addition, Saoirse Lewis ’18, sang and played her own, original song on the piano. This was the only other musical performance of the night, but it wowed the audience. In fact, after her song was done, Lewis received a standing ovation, the audience applauding her vocal talent and touching words. She spoke about her own experience as a woman and the struggles she faces in society. Her song itself is called “Society.” One of the co-leaders of LWOW, Olympia Francis-Taylor ’18, commented on Lewis’ performance as she said, “Lewis’ performance was incredible. Personally, I had never heard her sing before. I was truly in awe of her incredible hidden talents.”
Another unique performance was a dance, performed by Khloe Thomas ’18, Chaiyia Taylor-Jackson ’19, and Sabrina McFarland ’19. They danced to a routine that they choreographed themselves, depicting their own feelings as women in the world. Their piece gave light to how one’s voice can shine through different mediums, and doesn’t need to be constricted to vocal sharing. Furthermore, they proved that dance can be a modem to convey difficult issues that need to be talked about.
Girl Talk at Lick-Wilmerding was started in 2014 by LWOW in hopes to create social change through theater while uniting with students outside of the Lick-Wilmerding community. Monologues are written and submitted anonymously and are then available to be selected by performers. Monologues this year ranged from topics such as first kisses and relationships to recovering after an assault.
Meredith Fry ’17 co-led the show, along with Bonnie Castleman ’17, Olympia Francis-Taylor ’18 and Nora Stacy ’17. Fry was one of the few who performed her own monologue. Her piece was comedic, written about what she would do if she had a secret year to herself. She included napping, punking Trump, and writing letters appreciation to the women that surround her as what would be on the year’s to-do list. Fry shared, “I knew my piece was a little strange… so I just figured I would do it myself to limit confusion. I really love stand-up comedy so I based my performance on that kind of style rather than a typical monologue. The experience was really amazing and it makes me want to do more stand-up.” When asked about the overall experience of leading Girl Talk, she added, “all in all I could not be more proud of all the people involved in the show. All of our hard work payed off and we were able to raise money for great causes.”
Brooke Peterson ‘17 performed a monologue on the painful reality of eating disorders through addressing Anorexia as “Ana” in a letter form. When asked about the show in its entirety, she admitted that many of the pieces were “pretty sad this year but are still very good,” and adds that “it goes to show that there is so much hurt in the student body that no one is aware of.”
Sophie Hochman ‘18 performed a monologue about an “all lives matter” comment the author overheard at the Women’s March in San Francisco and clarified the importance of recognizing the ways in which multiple issues and movements overlap. She described her positive experience with the show, saying that “at Girl Talk, it’s like you can physically feel how much love there is in that theatre. There is so much support among the Lick and Urban girls and the audience, that going up there and reciting a monologue about something you feel personally connected to feels perfectly safe and comfortable.”
Leila Kashani-Sabet ’17 performed a monologue this year that focused on the experience of being lesbian at Lick, highlighting the negative comments and dilemmas that might not be expected to occur in a liberal setting. She shared that she has “written a monologue all four years and performed the past three years, so I’ve been involved in Girl Talk since the beginning. It’s a very liberating and inspiring night. The first two years it was a very empowering space where women could candidly share and relate to other people’s experiences. There is always some comfort in realizing that other people are going through the same struggle you are. Last year was the most exciting year for me because I saw a pretty large increase in attendance not only overall but especially from the non-female community. It was very exciting to see more male’s and other identifying people coming out and demonstrating their support for the women in this community. It’s really exciting to see how the event has grown over the years and each year I get something different out of it depending on the variety of monologues that are performed. It is a night where I feel particularly accepted and supported by the Lick community and I think that is beautiful.”
