'Fat Girls' perform play about body image and weddings

Julie Dixon, an assistant professor of acting in the department of theater at ISU, was always annoyed when actresses skinnier than her got the parts she tried out for while she lived in New York City.

"I felt irritated, angry and depressed," Dixon said. From Dixon's experiences with rejection because of her size, she dreamed up and founded the Fat Girls Theater group, a branch of the ISU theater department, which is performing a premier play, "Invitation to a Wedding Cake."

"This play is all about body image," said Jonathan Golembiecki, 25, from Terre Haute, and an ISU alumnus who was the author of the play. "I wanted to glimpse into the world where body issues were such a problem."

The body issues discussed in…Wedding Cake involve a person's self-concept of weight, beauty (or lack thereof) or having straight or crooked teeth.

Golembiecki said he was introduced to the idea of body image while attending an American College Theater Festival seminar on how the body and food relate.

He said the women in the seminar started pouring their hearts out about how they hated their bodies. "Some of these women were really pretty," Golembiecki said. "There was one girl who thought she was fat, but she looked like she had the body most women would envy. In fact, I later heard another woman say just that."

Golembiecki said he chose to write this socially-conscious play about a wedding because it is universally relatable. "Weddings provided icon images," he said, "such as fitting into the perfect dress and wanting to eat the cake. I have friends that have said they were more excited about the cake than the actual wedding."

Ashley Dillard, a senior theater major who played the lead role of the girl who believes she is too fat (despite her actually being the skinniest woman on stage, according to one line from the play), said she used some of her own feelings about herself to play the part.

"Some people think it's easy to play a part that is based on yourself," Dillard said, "but it's hard. I was dealing with issues about myself I didn't want to confront. When I told people about my character, they say, 'You're not fat,' but that doesn't mean anything. Just because I may be the skinny girl in the front of class eating the Doritos or chocolate, and you hate me because I'm skinny, doesn't mean I don't hate myself, thinking I'm too fat."

The play revolves around Dillard's character as she tries to lose 10 pounds so that she can fit into an heirloom wedding dress, all while fighting off the craving, maniacal voice, played by Dixon, who told Dillard she was fat and should eat all of the wedding cake samples.

The play involved several comedic elements, including Dillard's character having a dream while she was dieting about pop-dancing ice cream sundaes and Hostess cupcakes, followed by jingles from Klondike Bar and Kit Kat.

Dixon was also wearing an outfit that was made of magazines featuring skinny supermodels. Ashlee Vitz, a senior theater major who plays Dillard's sister, said the play was an issue she thought everyone could relate to. "It was a great way for me to vent," Vitz said. "This play gave me a safe place to do so." "It was interesting," said Ashley Northern, a freshman business major who came for the opening night performance."It was really funny."

Also in attendance was Shearice White, a freshman social work major. "It was very good, and it is very relatable," she said. "I really hope this play gets people thinking about this problem, especially those who don't have this problem,"

Golembiecki said. "No one should have to feel this way." "All of us struggle with something," Dixon said. "It may not be weight, but fear or something else. Everyone has had a voice and it can be hard to beat it. People need to know that they aren't alone and are not freaks for feeling like this."