Black Box
Rachel Karp '18
Skidmore Theater presents Everything You Touch by Sheila Callaghan, directed by Rachel Karp ’18. Featuring an all-student production team and a script by the writer of hit television show Shameless, Everything You Touch boldly takes on the timely issues of body image and the societal pressure for perfection in a darkly comedic world of fashion and fantasy.
Two worlds unfurl simultaneously: the fashion world of the 1970s and contemporary Manhattan. Though separated by three decades, both are shaped by the desire for perfect careers, perfect bodies, and perfect lives. In the 1970s, Victor, a designer, and Esme, his muse, are immersed in their quest for beauty, art, and the ever-elusive idealized versions of themselves. That is, until Louella comes along, a shockingly ordinary woman from Arkansas who inspires Victor to cast Esme aside and make his clothing accessible to the people. In the present day, Jess embarks on a cross-country road trip to see her estranged, dying mother one last time, with a stranger named Victor who may or not be the imaginary reincarnation of her father. Along the way, she is forced to consider her own body-image, fraught with the self-hatred she has inherited from her mother and her world.
FROM THE DIRECTOR: “Just about anyone who has ever been a teenage girl knows what it is to hate their body because it isn’t ‘perfect.’ We have learned this hate from our mothers or our mentors or our peers, from magazines and movie stars, from advertisements and diet trends. Most of us have had years where we refused to wear anything but baggy sweatpants, because we didn’t like the way our flesh folded over the tops of our jeans. Switching back and forth between the fashion world of the 1970’s and our contemporary world, Sheila Callaghan’s Everything You Touch offers a darkly comedic portrayal of the corrosive nature of perfection. The play follows one woman’s journey to overcome decades of learned self-hate, blurring the lines of realism itself; in Callaghan’s world, fashion models turn to furniture, cars, gum-ball machines, memories, and back again.” – Rachel Karp ’18
Directed by Rachel Karp, ’18
Scenic Design by Sarah Markley ’19
Lighting Design by Omi Furst ’18
Sound Design by Max Helburn ’18
Costume Design by Leah Mirani ’18
Stage Managed by Eve Gertzman ’20