What a fun conversation I had with Krista Kammen Lowe and Suze Allen. Krista's new play is an excellent piece that uncovers the secrecy and struggle of a family tackling the issue of eating disorders. It's funny, touching, and thoughtful.
I hope you are all well during this struggle with COVID-19. Remember, we will get through this, and come out stronger on the other side.
Love and Peace,
Ray
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About Krista Kamman Lowe
A sample of Krista's art: https://bit.ly/KristaKLowe
The idea for writing Infatuation was born in the year 2000 after performing a personal piece in the Edinburgh Fringe Festival production of the play Hanging on Your Every Word, by Suze Allen. The desire to tell a fuller story about eating disorders stuck with me but it was not until I was a mother of a child with the same body and eating issues that I grew up with that I was able to finish the play.
Growing up with family members who struggled with eating disorders and my own battles with a poor self-image, I hated what our society told girls/women about our bodies. The images of super models and celebrities were the ideal. But if we failed and didn’t achieve this look, something was wrong with us. The transition of going from girl to woman has too much pressure. It doesn’t need to be this way!
We are more than a number on a scale or the size of our waist. Writing Infatuation became a deeply personal healing and an artistic way for me to express my frustration and anger about the repetitive internal voices that fill our heads with damaging thoughts. These distorted views that haunt young women leave deep scars, tear families apart, and ultimately can be deadly.
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About Suze Allen
Suze Allen is a published author, playwright, teacher, dramaturg and director with credits on both coasts. She was the creator of Fresh New Works San Francisco, The Maine Playwrights’ Lab and Short Works Festival, Artistic Director for the SF Writers and Actors Lab, Director for Fertile Ground Writing Studio and the resident Dramaturge and playwriting instructor at The Playwrights’ Center of San Francisco.
Her work and the work she has directed have played the Dramatists Guild’s SF Footlights, Tides Theatre, Brava Theatre, 450 Geary, The Marsh, Intersection for the Arts, Noh Space, The Phoenix, OutNorth Contemporary Art House in Anchorage Alaska and The SF and Edinburgh Fringe Festivals.
Her show THE MANIC MAMA DANCE premiered at the Marsh Café and played Birthfest 2008. Suze co-authored the book, The Time-Starved Woman’s Guide to Emotional Wellbeing with SD Shanti and advises writers through her company Manuscript Mentor.
Suze’s short play program, THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE , was featured at 3Girls Theatre’s 2013 Celebration of Women’s History Month. In 2012, Suze directed AJ Baker’s THE RIGHT THING and Lee Brady’s WHAT ABOUT BEN? at 3GT’s inaugural 2012 Celebration of Women’s History Month. From 2012-2018 Suze was an Francisco’s representative to the Dramatists’ Guild.
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Opening and Closing Music by Carly Ozard: http://carlyozard.com
Contact Ray at Green Room on Air: [email protected]
