Dear Courtney,
“revelations from the first and last ever rehearsal of THEY SAY I DID SOMETHING BAD: an unauthorized taylor swift parody musical about the life of the unabomber ted kaczynski presented by the bridgebrook college drama club” won me over with the name alone. But after watching it, I loved it more than I could have guessed; in a way that can best be summed up by my immediate text to my best friend: “I laughed A LOT for a play largely about grooming.”
And I did. The play-within-the-play had me laughing non-stop with the thematic pairings of Taylor Swift songs with key points in Ted Kaczynski’s life and the regular reminders from Cheyenne that they were not excusing his crimes. I fear I’ll never hear “Bejeweled” again without thinking of his cabin.
But the relationship between Cheyenne and Riley was so tender – silly and goofy, of course, but you could feel the love between those characters. I saw my own college friendships and relationships in them, that strong desire to take care of each other but the uncertainty of how to actually do it. When Riley finally talks about what happened to her with her teacher, and her reaction to finding out the news, I just wanted everything to stop. I mean, I wanted everything to keep going, I couldn’t get enough of it. But that moment hit me and I’m still sitting with it days later. And their final scene together is one I think I’ve tried to write a thousand times and never gotten right – thank you for doing it and showing it and reminding me of the safety we can find even in all of this hell around us.
I wish the play were not so relatable, but you know it is, even with the fever dream of our ecoterrorist buddies Taylor and Ted. And how do we make it better? How do we have justice, or safety, or just a way to deal with grooming and sexual assault? There are no answers, no simple answers, but part of it is certainly work like this that holds us and sees us, and also makes us laugh, again and again and again. This was my first experience with your work, but I cannot wait to read and see more.
Thank you,
Fee
Courtney Taylor’s The Taylor Swift / Unabomber Play played Sept 11th-Sept 13th at the Drake.
Fee Pelz-Sharpe’s Emotion/Truth plays Sept 20th and 21st at Sawubona Creativity Project.
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