This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing

by Finegan Kruckemeyer

dir. Dave Peterson

Production Design: Lisa Leibering

December 2011, Studio Theatre, Pittsburgh Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh PA

This Girl... is a beautiful story of three sisters finding their separate identities after their father abandons them in the woods.  Their journeys each contain moments of sadness and loss, but also involve exploration, discovery, and a great deal of humor.  Lisa Leibering (production designer) and I created a malleable setting of paper and shadows that enabled the young protagonists to alter their environment by creating puppets, building sets, and manipulating projections. One young character’s agency was expressed when she used a projector screen to turn a lighthouse into a submarine or wage a war with small cardboard figures.

Pictures by Deirdre O'Rourke, courtesy of the University of Pittsburgh Department of Theatre Arts

Performers: Amanda Leslie, Courtney Strauss, Alexa Smith, Mallory Fuccella, Sarah Turocy, and John Michnya