top of page

girls! girls! girls! by Greg MacArthur

girls! girls! girls! from the Headlines to the Stage

"Director Jessica Anne Nelson crafts the gritty play into a sometimes uncomfortable, but insightful, look at teen angst and anger.  MacArthur wrote the play in the late 90s as a reaction to violent high school stories like the Columbine Massacre and, closer to home, the tragic death of Reena Virk in Victoria. The bare-bones staging and intimacy of the Havana Theatre puts the audience in the midst of the action, forcing viewers to invest in the players more than in distant seating." -- On the List, Jay Minter

The only difference between a normal childhood where children grow and develop into healthy adults and what occurs in this story is how these teenagers feel that they cannot stop the path they’re on; the wheels are in motion and they’re unable to see that their violent actions have real long term consequences or that there’s a possibility to stop continuing down the path they’re on. And the particularly distressing and heartbreaking part of the story is that all of these characters are actually quite alike, and struggling with the same feelings of powerlessness and being unloved. It seems to reason that the outcome could have been so different if the characters could actually find solace in each other rather than pitting against each other. As one of our actors, Demi Pedersen states, “I wanted to be involved with girls! girls! girls! because I was so interested and curious about each character, and their human conditions. After reading the play for the first time I was terrified of these girls, and found myself asking the big "why?": why do teens do the things that they do under certain circumstances? I wanted an opportunity to put myself in these flawed, almost monstrous shoes, and ultimately find the humanity that lies within them.”

​

Cast:

Splitz: Sachi Nisbet

Little Bucky: Riley Davis

Puss: Bronwyn Henderson

Jam: Demi Pedersen

Missy: Isabella St Clair

​

Creative Team:

Set Designer: Vanka Chaitra Salim

Costume Designer: Alaia Hamer

Sound Designer: David Cowling

Lighting Designer: Sara Smith

Stage Manager: Samantha Sue Pawliuk

​

PRESS

"Nisbet portrays Splitz with single-minded jealousy and rage, which emboldens the gleeful bully in Henderson's Puss which in turn allows Pedersen to bring confusion to Jam who must balance her own moral compass and need to fit in. Meanwhile, Little Bucky abused and alone confronts his own mixed feelings which Riley Davis juggles like a cirque performer. The 75 minute play builds like seething temper to a climax that’s not the expected outcome, taking a look at how far a bully can go and how much the bullied can take. All the cast are captivating as they fit their roles into this complicated puzzle of teenagehood." -- On the List, Jay Minter

​

Read a Q&A about the Production HERE from Vancouver Presents "girls! girls! girls! is a hard-hitting and violent look at teen life"

bottom of page