“This play gets us to remember our own stories, to share them with friends, to think about what it means to be a woman under a microscope, often a controlling one, in times past and present.”
Linda McGinnis
It’s no secret that in challenging times, theater thrives. And doesn’t thriving sound good right now? Theater gives us a space for reflection, community and the exploration of complex issues and feelings. It offers catharsis and a sense of shared experience, especially during periods of uncertainty. Linda is deeply honored to be part of this Control Top production, a show that provides the belly laughs and tears that our playwright, Carole, is known for. But even more importantly, it is a show that makes us think about our shared experience as women expressing, hiding, embellishing, diminishing ourselves through the lens of what we wear, or of what we are ‘expected’ to wear. At first glance, that doesn’t seem very important, but the more you dig, the more you realize that it’s a huge topic, and a metaphor for so much more. This play gets us to remember our own stories, to share them with friends, to think about what it means to be a woman under a microscope, often a controlling one, in times past and present.
Linda has been in numerous local productions over the years (decades?), with a focus on plays and roles that focus on women as the central theme, with stories that make us laugh and cry, because that's the juice of life. It’s amazing how few plays (or films) actually do that (thank you Bechdel Test for making this so clear!). Some of her favorites have been through Girls Nite Out Productions: The Hallelujah Girls (Sugar Lee), The Family of Ewe (Jane), Sitting Pretty (Nina) and Alumni Pie (Amanda).
Linda is also an audiobook narrator, with a similar focus on books centering on women. By day, she is an economist working on climate change policy and analysis (through her roles at Energy Action Network and The Nature Conservancy) trying to find ways to help us all live more gracefully in partnership with this beautiful earth we are so lucky to be a part of despite a Control Top of a different sort. Big thanks to Carole for bringing great stories to life and to my amazing family for their boundless love and support.