In April, students of Chadwick + Morrow’s College of Fine Arts prepared themselves for general auditions. As a result, 10 women were cast in a show written and directed by Merri Biechler, the program's own professor of instruction in playwriting. Now, on Oct. 7, “Real Girls Can’t Win” opens and runs through Oct. 10.
“Real Girls Can’t Win” was originally produced at Ohio University in 2007, and it returns this year after being performed at five other schools since.
Set in 2007, “Real Girls Can’t Win” follows young women as they navigate university, body image and popularity in a world of evolving technology.
The show features five female characters. However, the production is double-cast, making a total of 10 student cast members.
Biechler, also the playwright and director, did not initially imagine double-casting the show since it would add to the workload, but decided it was the best direction to take after reviewing auditions.
“I think it was a little mad to double cast it,” Biechler said. “We had two rehearsal rooms going at all times, but they were totally game. They were like, ‘Let's do it.’ So I tried very early on to say, ‘This is not about competition. This is not about this person doing it this way, or I'm doing it that way.’ It's just about supporting each other.”
For the cast, the experience of having twice the number of members working on the show has been enriching and meaningful.
Semaj Wilson, a senior studying theater performace on the acting track, who plays K2 in the pink cast, found working with so many women opened up a space of vulnerability.
“We did a table reading for the first time, and then we kind of sat and got really vulnerable about how we felt about the piece and how our characters are moving throughout this piece, and just what's the underlying big message from this play,” Wilson said.
For many actors, it is a unique experience to work directly with the playwright. Dora Marquet, a senior studying along the acting track and who plays Montana, said it is exciting to work directly with Biechler, who has made changes to best fit the cast.
“If we don't know why the f--- something's being said, we can just ask her, and that's been something I've never experienced in a room,” Marquet said. “It’s just cool to be in a show that is constantly moving with us, it’s not settled.”
Rachel Farage, a junior studying along the musical theater track, said working with Biechler was a valuable experience.
“I didn’t think it was going to be as open of a process as it was working with the playwright," Farage said. “But Merri has been very awesome about letting us explore things and asking questions and using our different interpretations to make these characters our own, which I thought was really interesting.”
While the show is set in 2007, both the cast and director shared that themes within the show apply today. Marquet said the theme of technology within the show is more important today than it was in 2007.
“It's really like all girls of this age figuring out, coming up against technology, which is constantly what we're fighting against,” Marquet said. “It's making a decision regarding technology, how a button can change f---ing everything, and obviously that's something that we're all navigating as people right now, even more than in 2007.”
The show discusses ideas of comfortability for women in their bodies, a subject still important to women today. Biechler said while there has been work toward a more body-positive society and the show was first put on in 2007, not much has changed in regard to how women are viewed.
“I wish that young women had incredible agency over their lives, that they didn't feel the need to worry about popularity or body image or how they're seen in the world,” Biechler said. “But that's not the case, and I think that if anything, things have gotten way more complex because of social media.”
”Real Girls Can’t Win” deals with serious topics women face every day, but that doesn’t make it any less of a comedy with great punch lines and unserious situations.
While putting together the show, director Biechler stressed to actors this was a comedy with consequences.
“You know that nothing is ever just a comedy,” Biechler said. “These women are living their lives, they are making decisions, some good, some not so good. They're trying to figure it out as they go, and I think that there is a layer of humanity in this play that doesn't necessarily exist in other comedies.”
“Real Girls Can’t Win” will present its first show Oct. 7 at 7 p.m. at The Playspace in Putnam Hall, located at 96 E. Union St. Tickets can be reserved online through Eventbrite.
To learn more about shows through the School of Theater and preview the rest of the 2026-27 season, visit the School of Theater's website.
