Creating Heroic Girlz

The Problem & Solution:
It’s an observable phenomena for girls in our current society to have strong “voices” -- until the age of 11 or 12. Psychologist Carol Gilligan (In a Different Voice) and other social scientists have noted that at this point in her life a girl who previously was sure of herself, eager to answer questions in class, and confident of her point of view, often becomes silent, withdrawn, and even possibly self-destructive. One solution is to foster on-going communication between girls and women where both can share their stories and engage in an examination of themselves at specific moments in their lives, with this moment of “loss of voice” being particularly important. The expressive arts trio of writing, visual art, and theater becomes a fruitful avenue for this process. In HEROIC GIRLZ, the women of history share their stories with the girls of today while these girls examine this incredibly important moment -- age 11 -- in their own lives. HEROIC GIRLZ, the movie, shares the extremely engaging results of this process.

The Process:
HEROIC GIRLZ won Best Kids Stage Play at the 2005 Moondance Film Festival. It was originally written as a one-act stage play by playwright and screenwriter, Cindy L. Parrish with Thea Ezinga, Elon Michaud, Emma Parrish Post, and Devyn Yurko (all age 11), and another heroic mom, Laura Yurko. The teacher’s guide and documentary will outline the following processes:

Writing: The writing process began with the girls (and moms) writing about their own experiences of being 11 and a girl. The girls then chose four historic American women to research -- unearthing stories about Stanton, Bloomer, Alcott, and Earhart. The team interviewed each other in character, and had “round table” discussions about the historic women as 11-year-olds, what they were able to do in their lives, and what might have been left “undone” upon their deaths. Parrish then combined the writing and the notes into a stage play, then into a screenplay, directing the filmed version of the work.

Visual Art: Led by Laura Yurko, an expressive arts teacher, the girls made full-sized tracings of each other on long white paper. Within the outline of her own body, each girl painted in the image of her character. These full-sized figures were cut out and backed with foamboard creating pieces for the stage set.

Theater: Actor and director, Meg Agnew, led the girls through a series of improvisational movement exercises as “themselves” and as their characters. Parrish compiled the girls’ responses to a viewing of these exercises with some portions becoming dialogue. With script in hand, Agnew devised a dynamic staging using the full-sized Heroic Girlz figures, four chairs and one costume piece per character.