Theater Emory and Alliance’s ‘This Girl Laughs …’ promises storybook whimsy, universal themes

To kick off its 45th season, Theater Emory, in partnership with Alliance Theater, will stage This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing. The production is directed by Alliance Theatre’s BOLD Resident Artist and Teen Programs Manager Sam Provenzano. 

Following its Emory run, the production will tour local elementary and middle schools, offering the student actors the experience of a traveling show and giving young audiences access to professional theater. 

This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing tells the story of three young sisters left in the forest by their woodcutter father. Faced with a decision on what to do, each girl resolves to take a different path in life, and they meet again 20 years later as women. 

Playwright Finegan Kruckemeyer’s works are known for their whimsical, storybook-like qualities. Journeys of self-discovery, fairytale heroics and lessons to be learned await audiences of his award-winning plays. It’s theatre for the young — but also for everyone. 

Provenzano brings a level of understanding of the text, having first read it 10 years ago, then directing and performing in it at the Zach Theater in Austin, Texas. She describes how, upon every reading of the script, she discovers new things about the three girls’ journeys, particularly as she gets older. 

“I think it will resonate with adults who have experienced tragedy and have to do something after,” Provenzano said. “It’s a story about choices.” 

Charles Swint, company manager at Theater Emory, spoke about the long-standing collaborative spirit with the Alliance and how bringing Provenzano on the project was the “icing on the cake.” Provenzano programs and manages teen programs at the Alliance, coordinating weekend classes and summer camps for middle school and high school students. She leads the Teen Ensemble, an audition-based program for high school juniors and seniors, and she is the director of the Palefsky Collision Project, a three-week summer intensive where teenagers come to experience theater under the guidance of a professional creative team. 

Theater for young audiences “requires a specific set of skills and is a specific way of doing theater,” Swint said. The opportunity to add professional touring to this show offers a well-rounded educational experience for the students involved. They’ll experience the longer days, movable sets and unique locations, and they also will receive a professional credit for their resumes.  

“We always want to give our students a taste of professional theater,” Swint added. 

The idea of touring the show after the Emory run came out of a conversation with Theater Emory Artistic Director and Assistant Teaching Professor Caitlin Hargraves and Alliance Theater Co-Artistic Director Christopher Moses. Both thought students need access to professional theater. They also agreed touring is a rite of passage for theater actors. It was Hargraves who first approached Provenzano about the script. 

Kruckemeyer’s style offers open interpretations and liberties with its design and even its casting. This Girl — is able to be played with a cast of up to 40 actors. This particular rendition, however, will feature six — the three girls and three narrators, all students at Emory. With such open-ended discoveries to be made, the challenge is in how to produce this show to accommodate its tour. 

Fortunately, set and prop designer Mark Warner was up to the task and designed the set specially for touring. First, it will go up at the Schwartz Center, then it will feature site-specific and hidden surprises, which will pop out of unexpected places. 

“Hopefully, it’ll be a wonderful sensation of, ‘How did they do that?!’” Provenzano said. 

When and Where: 

This Girl Laughs, This Girl Cries, This Girl Does Nothing is at the Schwartz Center Theater Lab at Emory October 1 through October 4. Tickets are $15. 1700 N. Decatur Road.

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Susana Hills is an Atlanta-based writer with a background in theater and performance studies. She covers local theater with a curiosity about craft, collaboration and how theater responds to the moment in which it is created.