2008 Woodie Awards
"Fat Pig" Brings Discrimination into Light
Lora Powell: Muleskinner
Issue date: 2/14/08 Section: News
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This phrase encompasses the school of thought behind Neil LaBute's "Fat Pig," which will be performed at UCM Feb. 20-24. This performance, directed by the theater department's Julie Pratt, examines the perils men and women face regarding body image, ridicule and discrimination.
"To be a fan of LaBute's is also to be his foe, to question and curse him. His cruel wit and chronicles of immoral moralizers have made him, arguably, the most legitimately provocative and polarizing playwright at work today," said David Amsden, theater critic for the New York Times.
"LaBute is known for really examining the uglier side of human beings, so it's funny, but it's very exacting. It's romantic, but it's also quite painful. It's beautifully told, but very realistically and honestly, so it deals with how people speak about fat people," said Julie Pratt, director.
The play, being performed in conjunction with a series of events sponsored by the Office of Community Engagement, the Lighthouse and the theater department, is a romantic comedy/drama about a man who falls in love with a plus size woman, as well as the incredible pressure he faces from his friends and co-workers about being with a large woman.
"There will be a series of activities over the noon hour in the Union to engage students in thinking about ways body images are constructed; what we're told is beautiful and what we feel is beautiful.
Some of those include doing a body image outline, which includes drawing what you think your body looks like and then what your body really looks like. Those events will hopefully lead the audience, much like the V-Day Initiative events, to the production of "Fat Pig,"" Pratt said.
Several sections of Race, Class and Gender, as well as the members of the Women in Politics course will be attending the play and having assignments in relation to the production.
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