Willow Glen Resident

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Photograph by Vicki Thompson

Direct Approach: Barbara Means Fraser, who lives in Willow Glen and is an associate professor of women's and gender studies at Santa Clara University, wrote the play 'Breast Entanglements.' It is being performed on May 24.

Public, private feelings revealed in drama 'Breast Entanglements'

By Lynn Crocker

Breasts and the personal stories associated with the most public private part of a woman's body are the focus of Willow Glen resident Barbara Means Fraser's play, Breast Entanglements.

Fraser, an associate professor of women's and gender studies and chairperson for the department of theater and dance at Santa Clara University, came up with the idea for the play while working with students on a performance of The Vagina Monologues. Thinking it would be interesting to create a work based on breasts--another perhaps equally taboo topic--Fraser engaged students from both her departments in the project.

"Students Katie Carroll, Sarah Giorjean, K.T. Craft and Erin Mahan interviewed people from all over the country about breasts and topics related to breasts," Fraser says. "We met a couple of times a week to talk about the material they gathered. Then I took the information, created composite characters and wrote the script."

The end result is a series of vignettes with actors telling stories through monologues and dialogs.

"We shake it up, so there's variety," Fraser says.

According to Fraser, parts of the play are light-hearted and funny, while other scenes are serious and poignant.

"It takes you on a journey from both a woman's and a man's point of view and runs the full range of exploring what people think and what they feel about breasts," Fraser says. "For example, there's a section where we talk about sexy versus slutty, and what people perceive as the difference between the two. There's a part where we talk about fashion and how in different time periods breasts were dealt with in different ways, and how that reflects society's point of view at the time. It demystifies some of the mythology surrounding breasts."

Topics include nursing, plastic surgery, the onset of adolescence and battling breast cancer.

Fraser and her students learned a lot from their interviews.

"We thought we knew what we were getting into, but we had no idea," she said. "I learned things about breast cancer and nursing I never knew. I also became aware of other people's perspectives on breasts, especially in the area of plastic surgery. It was an enlightening experience."

The play was first performed in spring of 2003 at Santa Clara University and later at the Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore. City Lights Theater Company in downtown San Jose hosted the play for five shows in May 2005.

"Of all my plays, this is the one that is in the most demand," said Fraser, who has written six other plays.

The play is presented by the Progressive Theatre Project and Residential Learning Communities Program at Santa Clara University and shows for one night only on May 24 at 8 p.m. at the Center for Performing Arts, Recital Hall, Music and Dance Building, at the corner of Franklin Street and Park Court. Admission is free.