Northwest Missouri State University’s next theatre production will showcase the fight for equality for women.
“When We Were Young and Unafraid,” written by Sarah Treem, unveils a compelling narrative of resilience and courage as women confront their pasts and prepare for their futures. Audiences will go through a powerful exploration of empowerment while obtaining knowledge around women’s rights.
Show times are 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 13; Friday, Nov. 14 and Saturday, Nov. 15; and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 16, in the Studio Theater at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts. Tickets are $12 and may be purchased online or at the box office one hour before each show.
Paige Waddingham, a senior speech and theatre education major from Creston, Iowa, is the production’s director. She selected the play because it applies to current topics and noted the play offers fun, lighthearted moments that also make the content easier to digest.
“In the digital age, sometimes we can get kind of lost in all of this info that we’re retaining, whether it be the news, our friends or a trend,” she said. “We can just get lost in what’s actually happening in the world. Seeing a show like this kind of makes you realize, ‘Oh, how does this relate to today? How does this relate to something maybe my mom or grandma had gone through?’ It’s a way to connect with people you hadn’t connected with before.”
The play takes its audience inside a bed and breakfast turned women’s shelter in the early 1970s, before Roe v. Wade and the Violence Against Women Act.
“This show just shows a lot of the experiences that women go through, and it’s written in a way that’s very relatable,” Waddingham said. “It doesn’t exaggerate what they’ve gone through, and it puts the unfortunate things in a more digestible way. It makes you realize how often this happens.” Waddingham says being a student director has instilled confidence and new skills that she will use in her career as an educator and director. “Northwest does a really nice job of making sure that this is an educational theater, and that you should come away with some sort of new knowledge and have an expressive outlet,” she said.
