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“Factory Girls” resonates with modern-day issues

Fair wages, sit-ins and working conditions were the topic of the Utah State University Theatre Arts Department’s production of “Factory Girls” Tuesday evening.

Written by Frank McGuinness, the play is set in the early 1980s in Donegal, Ireland. The play features five factory workers who start a sit-in inside the factory’s administrative office in protest of poor working conditions and unfair treatment.

“It’s about women changing the consciousness of who they are,” said Leslie Brott, the head of acting for the theatre department. “What kind of roles they play in their culture, about challenging the roles that were set for them defined by the church, their culture, their jobs, their corporations for whom they work.”

The play also features a theme which redefines the family dynamic as not the traditional nuclear unit, but as something that is both biological and logical, Brott said.

“I felt like the idea was really strong that women can do things, and they can tell people how they feel, and they can take a stand,” said Cambrey Bean-Robins, a junior in public relations.

The idea of women taking their lives into their own hands is a resonant theme that can be applied to the world today, Brott said, with women still underrepresented in administration positions in many different fields and being paid a lower average salary than men.

The play promotes the idea that it is the individual who is responsible for his or her situation in life and it is up to them to determine how to deal with it .

“You are responsible for your own life. You are responsible for all the excuses that are couched as reasons, and also that it’s very human to be in error about what you think you are responsible for,” Brott said. “McGuinness also forgives us our failures to truly know ourselves. And I think he’s very clear about the fact that it’s never too late to know yourself. And it’s never too late to learn something about yourself. And it’s never too late to say that you are going to be the prime actor over your life.”

Though the play centers around serious themes and subject matter, there is humor in the interactions between characters.

“They function like a family,” Brott said. “They snipe, tease, call each other names, use sarcasm the same way we all get along together.”

Performed in the Black Box Theater, the play gives the audience closer interaction with the actors than traditional thrust stages by sitting around and on the same level as the performing area.

“You can see the props, see what they’re doing,” said Shaelie Shenton, a senior in family consumer and human development.”You’re just more in the story, I guess, than when you’re kind of farther away.”

“Factory Girls” plays every night this week untilOct. 3 with shows at 7:30 p.m. and an extra matinee at 2 p.m. on Saturday. Tickets are free with a student ID and $6-$8 without. Seats are limited due to the small performance area.

“Something that people should know is that it’s really good and they should come and support the cast,” Shenton said. “I think they worked really hard and it’s really fun and interesting, and you should come watch it.”

— miranda.lorenc@gmail.com

Check out the gallery here. Photos by Matthew Halton.