The Good Body
by Eve Ensler

A staged reading benefiting Centre Safe

May 15 & 16, 2024
7:00pm at The Gamble Mill Speakeasy
Bellefonte, PA

May 17, 2024
7:00pm at Tempest Studios
State College, PA

With THE GOOD BODY, Eve Ensler, author of The Vagina Monologues, turns her unique eye to the rest of the female form. Whether undergoing botox injections or living beneath burqas, women of all cultures and backgrounds feel compelled to change the way they look in order to fit in. THE GOOD BODY merges cross-cultural explorations with Eve's own personal journey coming to terms with her "less-than-flat, post-forties stomach."

THE GOOD BODY is presented by special arrangement with Broadway Licensing, LLC, servicing the Dramatists Play Service collection (www.dramatists.com)

Original Broadway Production produced by Harriet Newman Leve and the Araca Group and Easy of Doheny, Inc.

Poster design credit:
Caitlin Meleski of Caitlin Meleski Artwork

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Meet The Cast and Production Team

*Sock & Buskin debut!

Stephanie Whitesell*

Director, Stage Manager

Stephanie (she/her) is making her directorial debut with The Good Body. Although not a newcomer to the local community theater scene, she is excited to be trying something new. She also just graduated with her master's degree in Public Policy from PSU!

Stefanie Austin

Producer

Stefanie is the current President and a Founding Director of Sock & Buskin Theatre Company. Since 2014, Stefanie has held roles both on and off stage in a number of productions by SCCT, Nittany Theatre, and S&B. Most recently, you may have seen her as Rebecca in S&B’s The Final Rose (Feb.) Coming up, she will be performing as Gwen in Rapture, Blister, Burn (Jun.) and directing Rehearsal for Murder (Sep.). She is proud to be part of an organization that recognizes the importance of giving back, and loves being able to organized another benefit performance. She also in the midst of writing 3 plays! She thanks her husband, Peter, and their two kids for their unwavering love and support.

Sandy Adams

Sandy has had parts in Anything Goes, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, Annie, and played Rizzo in Grease. She also choreographed all the above in addition to many more musicals for Bellefonte Middle School and Bellefonte Project for the Performing Arts. She also served on the Board of directors for Centre County Outstanding Young Woman and choreographed a portion of the show for 22 years. After spending so much time near theater but behind the scenes, Sandy is excited about being “in” the scene! She is grateful to the welcoming and talented people who are part of Sock & Buskin for this precious opportunity. She was an upper elementary school teacher and then realtor, which, thinking back, are like being on stage! Thanks to all the terrific people she’s met along her path.

Jackie Gianico*

Thrilled to make her Sock and Buskin debut! Jackie is a member of Happy Valley Improv, performing with teams See You Next Time, Pardon My French, dinnerware, and Shut the Front Door in the Blue Brick Theatre in downtown State College. Jackie teaches at Penn State in the departments of Applied Linguistics and Communication Arts and Sciences. When not teaching, Jackie can be found leading sip-and-paints at the Arena Bar & Grill. Prior to Covid, Jackie performed in community theatre with Love and Light Productions, SCCT, The Next Stage, Tyrone Community Players, and Nittany Theatre at the Barn. Favorite past credits include: Cheryl in Evil Dead: the Musical, Madame Arcati in Blythe Spirit, and Eddie/Dr. Scott in Rocky Horror.

Jessica Karp

Jessica hails from Washington D.C., where she started her love of acting and her training by taking acting classes at The Theatre Lab in 2008. Here in State College, she has been acting with various community theatres since 2014. She has appeared in numerous local productions and staged readings, including King Lear (Nittany Valley Shakespeare Company, 2014), the all-female production of 1776 (Nittany Theatre at the Barn, 2016), The Women (Tempest Productions, 2018), Voices (The Next Stage, 2019), Girls’ Night Out (State College Community Theatre, 2021), Sin-ergy (Sock & Buskin, 2022), Last Summer at Bluefish Cove (Tempest Productions, 2022), Doubt: A Parable (Tempest Productions, 2023), and the recent Shakespeare adaptation, Hamlet: Time is Out of Joint (Tempest Productions, 2024). She is very excited to be working with Sock & Buskin once again in this reading of Eve Ensler’s The Good Body with a great group of women. She thanks her wife, Mar, for her continuous love and support.

Michelle Rodino-Colocino

Miranda Carter

Fresh from her sold-out show, This Time with Feeling, in New York City, Michelle is honored to perform Nina’s monologue in Sock & Buskin’s The Good Body. A survivor and Italian American woman who had plastic surgery because she hated her nose, Michelle is grateful to experience the challenges and playfulness of this character with such a supportive cast and crew! You may know Michelle as Ethel (the mother) in S&B’s 2023 production of Moon Over Buffalo; her alter ego Aunt Bernadette, or playing with Happy Valley Improv. With tonight’s performance, she is proud to support Centre Safe and their mission to end relationship and sexual violence and to empower survivors. Michelle thanks Todd, Stella, Mom, Dad, her friends, you (the audience!), and everyone involved in Sock & Buskin for supporting her and our awesome theater community!

Veronica Rosenberger*

Veronica (she/they) is proud to be making her Sock & Buskin debut! She has been involved in theater since high school but has taken many years off to advance her career as a therapist. Favorite past performances include Les Miserables, Getting Out, Noises Off, and Vanya and Sonya and Masha and Spike. From Shakespeare (credits include The Winter’s Tale, Romeo and Juliet, and Midsummer Night’s Dream) to musical theater (credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, 1776, My Fair Lady, and Spamalot), Veronica loves how theater portrays the beauty of human existence through the vessel of human connection. Veronica is grateful for the good body that allows her to continue creating art, finding joy, and sharing love. Veronica would be lost without the support of her family, friends, and community.