Notions of womanhood collide in shelter drama
Sarah Treem’s “When We Were Young and Unafraid,” now in a Custom Made Theatre production, opens with a scene so everyday you know something strange has to happen. Agnes (Stacy Ross) and her daughter, Penny (Zoë Foulks), are in the kitchen, talking about homework, college and prom. It’s 1972, on an island outside of Seattle. Suddenly, a chime sounds, and the pair spring to action. “Again? So soon?” Penny asks. “Go change your sheets,” Agnes replies, no further explanation necessary.
Agnes’ home isn’t an ordinary one. It isn’t even just a bed-and-breakfast, which is what most of her guests think. It’s also a secret shelter for battered women.
In the drama, four women — including an abuse victim, Mary Anne (Liz Frederick), and a radical lesbian separatist, Hannah (Renee Rogoff ) — must each find her own answer to what it means to be a woman in an imperfect, even violent and oppressive world.
Tracy Ward directs.