The “how” is easy. The “why” can trip up even the most intelligent woman.
Allen Community College Theatre examines “The How and the Why,” a play by Sarah Treem, at 7 tonight through Saturday at the Allen Theatre.
It’s a play about two strong, smart women struggling to unravel several interconnected threads about what it means to be female.
ACC students Nautianna Goforth stars as Zelda, a biologist near the end of her career, and Maddie Hodgden stars as Rachel, a graduate student researching evolutionary biology.
The two women meet to discuss Rachel’s radical new theory about menstruation. Science agrees on “how” menstruation happens. But why are humans one of the few mammals that shed their uterine lining each month?
Rachel hypothesized that it’s about protecting women from toxins.
But her theory would discount Zelda’s life’s work, contradicting “the Grandmother hypothesis” that made the older woman famous.
What follows is a scientific and philosophical debate about what it means to be a woman and the sacrifices women must make.
From the beginning, though, it’s clear there’s something even more profound happening between the two women. No spoilers, but a couple of twists elevate the discussion to an even more poignant level.
Goforth displays a wisdom beyond her years, portraying Zelda with an air of serious superiority, using clipped words and a strategic monotone to distance herself from emotion. She’s logical and pragmatic, repeatedly pointing out her age and name-dropping other renowned scientists she’s worked with over the years.
She urges the younger woman to stand on her own, to persist in the male-dominated field of science, to never buckle under a man’s ambition.
Hodgden is the perfect counterpoint. She’s passionate and impulsive, immersed in her studies and committed to her pursuit. She’s also quick to take offense to perceived criticism. Hodgden plays the role with just the right notes of conceit and defiance, tinged with a defensive insecurity. At times she’s desperate for approval. She strides across the stage in righteous anger, only to collapse in a heap of anxiety and self-doubt.
DIRECTOR Tricia Stogsdill, who leads the ACC Theatre department, said she first saw “The How and The Why” with her fiance, John Leahy, in downtown Minneapolis where he worked for an all-female theatre company.
“I was just blown away,” Stogsdill said. “I thought it was so revolutionary and empowering and witty and heartfelt. I’ve been wanting to do this play ever since.”
The play also offered an opportunity for Stogsdill to teach students about the more technical aspects of theater.
