LEWISTON – In addition to its regular theater season, The Public Theatre is known to offer a special production or two to spice up its offerings to L-A audiences. The current show is titled “In My Head I’m Thin,” a piece written, performed and designed by a Maine-based wife and husband team Susan Poulin and Gordon Carlisle.
Poulin is well-known to Maine audiences for her outrageous show “Ida: Woman Who Runs With the Moose.” The married duo has performed previously at The Public Theatre in a show on the fun and foibles of marriage, “Spousal Deafness … and Other Bones of Contention.”
“In My Head I’m Thin” is a loosely knit series of skits and recollections centering on our society’s obsession with weight loss, especially for women. Based on Poulin’s own experiences with “the battle of the bulge,” the production takes the audience on a humorous journey showing all the desperate measures women will take to shed pounds.
Poulin talks lovingly of her obsession for potato chips, Coca-Cola and penny candy, all items that stand in contradiction to what her new diet plan will allow. (She has signed up as a lifetime member of the Nutri-Jenny weight loss plan!) With Carlisle playing guitar and assisting in vocals, the duo perform some great numbers in “My Clothes Are Shrinking,” an ode to the summer wardrobe that doesn’t seem to fit after a year in storage, and in “Battle of the Bulge,” paying homage to a never-ending battle that women can’t seem to win.
Tossed in with the skits and musical numbers, Poulin often poses by putting her face in large paintings with facial cutouts that show artists’ visions of women through history. There are no anorexic women here as Poulin takes on the voluptuous women portrayed by famous French painters, where woman had curves and bulk on their bodies.
While the weight-loss humor runs rampant and resonates well with the female audience, there’s a serious, if not sad side to the subject.
In a game-show spoof called “Where’s Our Mind?” Poulin answers some very real questions posed by Carlisle in the role of an obnoxiously overboard game-show host.
When asked what percentage of 9-year-old girls in California say that they’re on a diet, Poulin discovers the correct answer is 50 percent. And in her crowning success, answering the bonus question, Poulin correctly guesses that most women fear gaining weight more than they fear death. The spoof is funny, but the facts are very disturbing.
While men will enjoy the show, I think its appeal is better felt by the female audience, many who know all too well the societal pressure to be thin. At a matinee performance, there were many small groups of women, obviously enjoying the occasion of a special outing together, but enjoying a comic look at what can be a very daunting subject even more.
“In My Head I’m Thin” continues with performances on Nov. 11, 12 and 13. Tickets are $16 for adults, $14 for seniors and students, and $10 for children under 12. For ticket information, people may call the box office at 782-3200
Dan Marois is an actor, writer, producer and owner of Main Street Entertainment and Mystery for Hire. He can be reached at [email protected].
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