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UNC theater group promotes wellness
Eating disorders and body image are recent topics
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Published: May 4, 2008
CHAPEL HILL
As students at the University of North Carolina pack up their winter sweaters and take out their bathing suits, fears of extra pounds put on during the chilly months begin to surface.
Interactive Theatre Carolina, a new program developed by the university's Counseling and Wellness Services, is seizing the moment to deal with a problem affecting about 8 million people nationwide: eating disorders.
The Herald-Sun of Durham reports that Interactive Theatre Carolina was created last fall and works to promote health, wellness and social justice at the university. Using scripted and improvisational theater, the group of 20 student actors has dealt with controversial topics from rape to homophobia, and now eating disorders and body image.
Ben Saypol, the 35-year-old program coordinator, explained that eating disorders and body image were selected as topics for a combination of reasons. Topics are chosen based on "what is being requested by various groups on campus, combined with what issues are most salient at any given time," Saypol said.
It's also an important topic for some of the actors.
"When I auditioned for the troupe, Saypol had not yet determined whether or not he was going to incorporate a body image scene into this year's agenda," said Janine Love, a first-year student and member of Interactive Theatre Carolina. "I told him that I wished he would."
The group's most recent performance, titled Tough Love, features a character, played by Love, who shows symptoms of anorexia. Her character and the character Amanda, who shows bulimic tendencies, fueled a large portion of the 90-minute interactive experience. The goal of interactive theater is to "get people talking about issues," Saypol said. "To some extent, the issues are commonly known. A lot of these come up time and time again on college campuses."
Each performance consists of three basic sections. The first, a scripted scene; the second, audience interaction; and the third, a post-performance conversation.
The performance begins with an introduction to the unconventional format of interactive theater. Unlike traditional theater, the audience attending Saypol's shows are challenged to partake in the action. Whether making an appearance onstage with the actors or offering comments from a seat in the audience, interactive theater asks viewers to voice their opinions and not be intimidated by controversial topics.
"Give each other the benefit of the doubt," Saypol explained during the introduction to Tough Love. Use "I" statements and be open to other's opinions, he added, before instructing the audience to stand up for its warm-up exercise.
"I want you to take your right hand and start making circles in the air," Saypol told the audience. This task, seemingly easy enough, was followed by the instruction to continue the circular motion with the right hand while making x's with the left. "A little harder?" Saypol asked.
The exercise, used to show how one's body can be uncomfortable trying to perform the task, is used as a metaphor for the level of unease one might feel when discussing issues such as body image and eating disorders in front of one's peers.
Love wanted to be a part of this particular performance. Having a friend who had experienced the problem, and having strong opinions about society's expectations about weight, she wanted to address and try to debunk the "beauty myth."
"It's all a lie, a fictional, unattainable image of ‘perfection' that's being forced onto us all whether we want it or not," Love said.
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