'Patty Red Pants' takes on suburban sexuality

Little Red Riding Hood becomes more than a story about a girl and a wolf in Trista Baldwin's "Patty Red Pants," which runs for its last weekend at 8 p.m., Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m., Sunday at the Bloomington Playwrights Project, 312 S. Washington Street.\nBaldwin uses the classic fairy tale to explore sexuality in suburban America. The wolf becomes a metaphor for men as he preys on Little Red Riding Hood in an attempt to take her virginity. When he is finished with her, he no longer finds her appealing and moves on to the next innocent girl.\nThe tale of Little Red Riding Hood is the frame through which Patty Red Pants and her friend Becky Bloom recall their teenage years and sexual awakening when they encounter each other 11 years later at a shoe store. The meeting triggers an internal journey through their memories of a murder that happened in Patty's backyard woods when they were 15 years old. Baldwin explores how trauma affects memory as the characters play through their different takes on what happened the night of the murder.\nMemories of the murder are closely linked to those of their sexual awakenings and shared relationship with a boy, Jeremy, who dates each one in turn. The play explores how men view and treat women in relation to sex and how women react. The girls question how they would react if the girl's murderer approached them and wonder if they would run if he were attractive.\nUnder the direction of Amanda Renee Baker, this one-act play rolls quickly through its fast-paced changes in place and time. The dialogue is quick and compact and it is easy to believe that the girls are genuine friends through their onstage interactions with each other. The ease through which the performance occurs is in large part due to the talent of the three actors involved.\nFreshman Julia Weiss, who plays Patty Red Pants, flies through her long monologues concerning dreams and memories and is dynamic in her vocal inflection and facial expressions. In a scene that is often repeated throughout the play, Julia runs with wounded, panicked eyes as she recalls a dream she had about racing through the woods in love. She captures each moment of the play and the winding script with grace as she transforms from age 26 to 13 to 15.\nFreshman Emily Goodson is also convincing in her role as the oversexed Becky Bloom. Her fears of her sexually abusive stepfather are apparent in her panicked pleas to Patty to help her escape the house. Her character is charismatic and goofy, making immature sexual innuendos about everything happening around her. She also easily transforms through the various ages she must play.\nWith only three performers in the show, senior Todd Aiello plays every male character, from the wolf to a shoe salesman to the girls' boyfriend Jeremy. He aptly shoots out come-ons and crude language at the girls in attempts to seduce them. He is villainous and suave at the same time, always after sex no matter what role he is playing. With his smooth voice and cocky air, Aiello made the role look easy.\nPatty Red Pants' dark treatment of suburban life aptly deals with issues of emerging sexuality and psychological trauma. Between Baldwin's poignant writing and the strong acting skills of the cast, this production is well worth seeing.