EAT illuminates the struggle of those who suffer and of those who love them.”
– Stephanie Setliff, MD, Child and Adolescent Psychiatrist at the Center for Pediatric Eating Disorders at UT Southwestern Medical School
by Tricia White | Managing Editor
Former Broadway actress turned ‘playwright with a purpose’, Linda Daugherty has a broad repertoire of purpose-driven works, including Bless Cricket, Toothpaste, and Tommy Tune, a play about her relationship growing up with a brother with Down syndrome, Don’t U Luv Me? a poignant piece about teen on teen dating violence, and The Secret Life of Girls, a play about girl bullying.
Her words hit to the very core of audiences across the world. Some things just need to be said and Daugherty has given a voice to issues people don’t want to talk about. Her latest play, EAT (It’s Not About Food), a year-long collaboration with adolescent physician Dr. Susan Sugerman, founder of Girls To Women Health and Wellness, brings together a plethora of research and gives that voice to the topic of eating disorders onstage at the Dallas Children’s Theatre.
EAT (It’s Not About Food) examines the dangerous and baffling world of eating disorders in girls and boys. Using interwoven vignettes, ranging from realistic to satirical to humorous, EAT candidly explores the causes and warning signs, takes a hard look at the influences of society and the media, and tells individual stories of young people struggling with this epidemic and often tragic problem.
The Dallas Morning News called Daugherty’s EAT a “ . . . a gutsy, arresting and daringly, darkly humorous world premiere . . . powerful . . . laudable script . . . leaving open the possibility of changing and perhaps even saving lives of both young audience members and friends whom they now may recognize as needing help” and People Newspapers proclaimed, “Linda Daugherty has never been one to avert her eyes from issues facing young people today.”
Daugherty says her show’s takeaway message is simple, but important: “Be very careful what you say to others because your words can affect how people feel about themselves. Value the person not their size.”
For more information and tickets, visit dct.org or call 214.740.0051.
