'Deep Dark Secrets'

What would you do if you knew someone’s secret? Would you keep it, even if doing so had dire consequences?

That’s the dramatic tension at work in “Deep Dark Secrets,” the latest play from Kansas City-based author and playwright Eileen Bluestone Sherman.

But drawing attention to the problem of eating disorders is the larger purpose behind the play, which was staged several times last week as part of the fifth Kansas City Fringe Festival. “Deep Dark Secrets” was first performed as a staged reading at the very first KC Fringe Fest, but this was a full version with a set, costumes, blocking, etc. It was produced by Bebe Bartholomew and under the direction of Janie Peak of the Park University theater department.

The play features two lead characters as they struggle to make it through high school.  Bridget (played by Julie Dolezilek) is the new girl who gets on the bad side of the popular, athletic Kate (Chelsea Gibbs). The pair develops a relationship that is tenuous, at best, largely bound by the secrets that each one keeps for the other.  They navigate dates, parents and athletic events as Kate struggles to be an Olympic gymnast, while Bridget attempts to fit in.  At every turn, there is the possibility that one might reveal the other’s problem. A former dancer, Bridget knows all too well where Kate’s desire for parent-pleasing perfection may lead.

The set is minimal; the girls and Mrs. Thornton, their understanding and frustrated principal, being the main focus. Sherman has nailed teenage angst on the head, giving a voice to the struggle in which many teens, both male and female, find themselves.

Industry standard
According to Sherman, the idea for the play came from reading several articles in The Kansas City Star about a local Olympic gymnastics hopeful who had starved herself to death.

“There were several articles describing this sad journey, and it struck a chord with me,” said Sherman. “Back when I was in college, we weren’t familiar with the term ‘eating disorder,’ but we did watch an acquaintance of ours slip away. She was just skin and bones, and then she was gone.”

At one point in “Secrets,” Kate’s mother shouts this line: “Don’t forget to try that new exercise tonight!  It’ll make your ribs stick out like those Romanian girls!”
Through the conversations between Kate, Bridget and Mrs. Thornton (Lauren Pope Myrseth), the audience is led on a journey that is both typically teenage and heart-wrenching. An audience member might recognize experiences from their own teenage years.

“As a theater major,” said Sherman, “I worked with dancers and took dance classes, and I remember that you couldn’t show an ounce of fat in your leotard. For anyone in the arts now, being as thin as possible is practically an industry standard, and has worked its way into the mainstream.”

Beyond KC
In the performances last week, all three actresses play their parts with ease and grace. The conflicts shown between Bridget and Kate were expertly tense; scenes where the characters bit their nails made the audience want to do the same. Gibbs, a student at Park University, has the haunted look down, and hit the audience where it hurts. Dolezilek, also a student at Park, was fantastic as a seemingly sweet, innocent girl who could turn witchy at a moment’s notice. The pair played off each other effortlessly, and Myrseth’s voice of reason fit in as smoothly as icing on a cake. Myrseth is a graduate of the theater program at Indiana University-Bloomington. Sherman said the whole cast did “a gorgeous job.”

Since the first staged reading of “Deep Dark Secrets” at back in 2005, the play has been seen around town, and the creators hope it will have a long life going forward, as well. A grant from Park University brought it to an eating-disorders workshop, setting it amidst speeches by a nutritionist, a physician, a high school counselor and the playwright herself. The play also toured to middle and high schools on both sides of the state line.  In the future, Sherman, Peak and Bartholomew hope to take the show beyond Kansas City.
Whatever happens, this poignant piece will remain relevant over time.  

Jen Stone is a local freelance writer and photographer.

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