Beware of Plastics is an original performance piece made up of monologues written and performed by seven young women. These young actresses share their personal experiences and opinions on diversity, times of celebration of the differences between us, and times of isolation because of dissimilarity.

The play only runs about thirty minutes, yet takes you on a wonderfully diverse journey through life... the hopes, dreams and sometimes disappointments that come along with the journey seen through the eyes of this splendid cast.

You would think seven independently delivered monologues would have no common thread, but all are interwoven in a wonderful tapestry of family, friends, and inner reflections of the outside world around each young woman. While each monologue is delivered, the other young ladies come to life and assist in the visual telling of the words being spoken.

There are emotional stories, like a sister’s view of the world through her sister’s visual impairment and how it forces her to see the world; of an only child, due to the death of her siblings, and what a “box of love” now means to her and those that look up to her; about a family of ten siblings, all homeschooled and how they perceive each other compared to the way the world sees them; or of girl now living in the United States with her parents but dealing with the loss of personal contact from the family still in another country. There’s truly a wonderful story and lesson to be learned from each one and you are left with moral re-evaluations of yourself afterwards.

What I find very interesting is that each monologue is a personal experience of that young actress. The depth, personal reflection, and sometimes intenseness, is so impressive, you forget you are watching young actors on stage. Every one of these lovely young ladies holds the stage with passion and drive to tell you their story and make you understand their plight or point-of-view. It’s truly a wonderful presentation that effects you deeply and makes you think after you leave the theatre, and that doesn’t happen in some full-length professional shows I’ve seen.

Actors Conservatory Theatre definitely has some outstanding up-and-coming talent on their hands and I definitely look forward to seeing many more of their productions in the future.

BEWARE OF PLASTICS
Actors Conservatory Theatre

(Seen with Robert’s Eternal Goldfish)

Part of the 2014 Out of the Loop Fringe Festival

Other reviews from the festival:
An Evening with DNCB
Antarctica
Beware of Plastics
Butcher Holler Here We Come
Express From 59th
Falling Man
Honky
(K) New Order
Mozart's Muze
No Show: A One Woman Show
One Raelette's Journey
Passport to Womanhood
Playing wit