The MIRROR, MIRROR cast has had 4 performances this week, from March 31- April 2. Here are some thoughts from Kyrie Ellison, one of our cast members:

At Russell Sage College, we are all told daily that we are “women of influence”. I can personally attest to the power and truth of that statement after touring the show Mirror, Mirror to various high school audiences around New York and Massachusetts. It was wonderful, seeing the faces light up as many took in the information we were trying to spread to each and every person in the audience, and it made the show even more delightful to the cast presenting it. I can’t tell you how many times I went back stage to hear someone in the cast saying “I like this audience the best. They are really responding to what we are saying”. Show after show, the audience’s got more and more responsive, whether it was dabbing at tears in the corner of their eyes, or rolling in the aisles from yet another funny joke delivered when they least expected it.

Touring is completely new to me. As a freshman, this has been my first opportunity to be a part of anything as inspirational as this. I remember seeing a performance of Mirror, Mirror when I was a junior in high school, and it brought up some interesting questions. I really began looking at myself from the inside out and not picking apart every “flaw” in my body. My hope for the tour is that I helped to inspire someone else to start thinking that way too.

The fact is that it’s hard to know if you really get through to an audience based on applause or laughter.

The real truth of how any piece affected a person comes hours, days, even weeks after viewing it, and many of the actors/actresses never really get to see the seeds they have planted grow. We, as the cast of Mirror, Mirror had the chance of actually sitting and talking with audiences after each performance to see how that particular audience reacted overall. Some reactions and questions were immediate, and some took a little cajoling, but at least five people in every audience had a question or a statement they wanted to share with us.

Our most popular question, which often became the theme of our “talk backs” tended to be about the way we look at ourselves in the mirror. Now, honestly, I can confess that I have been a monster to myself in the past about things that I cannot change, but being in this show, and seeing the changes it helps people make allows me to forget for a while that we can’t all walk around looking like a Photoshop edited picture. Hearing the different stories about the anorexic wife and her husband, the waitress Lizzy, the breast cancer piece, the bariatric surgery piece and the piece about Raysheea’s butt gives us a chance to tell the young men and women in the audience that they are not alone. Everyone had something they want to change about themselves.

From Leigh: Some of the more interesting responses we’re received include:

-“I’ve had bariatric surgery, and I want to thank you doing that piece, it’s so much like my story.” (There is a new piece in the show about bariatric surgery performed beautifully by Kaitlin Stewart.)

-“I came with my daughter because I thought it would give us something to talk about. I didn’t realize it would be so meaningful to me as an older woman.”

-A young girl who had been through Four Winds was sitting next to a friend who asked how to help a friend with an eating disorder. When we started to discuss it (and I tried to be very careful in speaking of what I have learned) the friend began to weep. As soon as the talkback ended, I pointed it out to her teachers – fortunately a school psychologist was with the group. We hope it was ultimately a step in the right direction for her.

-“This should go to the White House!”

Posted by Leigh Strimbeck, co-Artistic Director of WAM Theatre, who conceived and directed ‘Mirror, Mirror’.