PRINTSee this: Necessary Targets
The emotional journey of two women who travel to Bosnia
Jeremy Jardine
The cast of Necessary Targets, a play about two women who travel to Bosnia after the war to help women deal with the emotional burdens that followed, practice at the Warehouse Theatre.
November 3, 2011 | 12:00 a.m. CST
Alaina Sharp, Stephens College undergraduate and director of Necessary Targets, is living a theater director’s dream. Last year, she persuaded Warehouse Theatre to let her produce the play. Sharp found that the actresses are not only playing their characters but are also connecting with them on a personal level.
In her direction of Necessary Targets, the emotional journey of two women who travel to Bosnia after the 1992 war, Sharp wants the audience to recognize survivors of tragedy who seek guidance and therapy.
“I really hope that people walk away with the idea that they are not alone, and they don’t have to go through anything by themselves,” Sharp says. The story follows two Americans — a writer, Melissa, and a psychologist, J.S. — who are not alone as they meet women scarred with the mental burdens of war.
In the story, written by American playwright Eve Ensler, the two help women who mentally relive the war. As they listen to the women’s stories, both are unable to stay detached and begin to take on the mental load the women have carried for years.
The introspection experienced in the play has not been limited to the production. Sharp says some of the actresses see themselves within the characters they play and relate to them personally and figuratively.
One actress spoke with Sharp about her mother, who was half Bosnian. “Her mother just passed away,” Sharp says. “This play is helping her connect with a part of her history.”
The play allows the actresses and audience to think critically about America’s own stigma towards those seeking help.
Photograph by Jeremy Jardine
When: Nov. 9-12
Where: Warehouse Theatre
Cost: $8, $6 students
Call: 876-7199
