By Alexandra Mandalakis

This past weekend, FET presented their first slot show, “Getting Out” by Marsha Norman. The play followed a woman named Arlene (Katie Moore-Gillon FCRH ’19) and her attempt at returning to a normal life after being released from prison for murder. Arlie (Colleen Granberg FCRH ’18), Arlene’s younger and more rebellious self, was presented in prison and remained on stage throughout the play, while Arlene attempted to move on and away from her past and dealt with the controlling men in her life.

Director Jameson Connors, FCRH ’18, was thrilled with the success of her debut. She was first introduced to “Getting Out” when she saw pictures of her friends performing the play at Loyola University Chicago and thought that it looked interesting. “I bought myself a copy of the script and blew through the entire thing in one day. I really fell in love with it.”

Connors discovered that directing combines her two favorite things: “telling people what to do and talking with my hands.” Her favorite part of the process was the Saturday rehearsals, because the cast worked on themes and really got to experiment within the show. “The weeknight rehearsals were the blocking of the scenes and the slogging stuff, but on Saturdays it was really cool to have the actors in a space where they can just create without the restrictions of the text,” she says.

Throughout the process, Connors learned a lot about directing with the help of her production staff. “I realized that so much goes into a show that I do not have the breadth of knowledge for, so I was so lucky to have an incredible production staff that helped me along the way.”

Connors found that she had also learned a lot about herself. “I am a micromanager in a lot of aspects of my life, so having an opportunity where I had very little control was challenging for me.” Connors found that through her experience with the show, she achieved more than she thought she could. “I now know that every stressor that I have in my life — I can handle it!”

For Connors, the most important aspect of the play was the strong depiction of feminism and the ways in which Arlene represents female oppression in systems today. “The play deals with a lot of issues with sexual trauma, childhood trauma, the factors that go into what makes a person and more specifically, what makes a woman.”

The representation of women in society and the inequality of women in today’s world is something that Connors feels incredibly passionate about and wanted audiences to feel. “The limitations that society places on women are fabricated. I want the audience to understand the will of humans as well as the will of women to break the patriarchal system, which doesn’t benefit anybody.”

“Getting Out,” for Connors, was “a snapshot of how the patriarchal system really does a terrible disservice to women,” and was her way to “start the conversation about how we can break down this structure.” Connors was accepting donations before, during and after the show for a program at Mount Sinai that deals with people who struggle with sexual violence and domestic assault.

Overall, “Getting Out” is a show about us, our society and our women.

“Every little piece of the show is about the oppression of women in some way, and depicted one woman’s specific journey to overcome this oppression that exists in individuals, and in systems,” Connors said.