Ep8 Mean Girls Be Damned - Circles Rise Together with Dr. Bess Rowen

Have you ever encountered a "Mean Girl" at work? How should you handle Mean Girl behavior in the workplace?

My guest today is in some ways a departure from previous episodes but I think you’ll recognize why I wanted her to come on the show. Her name is Dr. Bess Rowen, she is an Assistant Professor of Drama at Villanova University. She is a professional actor, a member of Actors’ Equity Association having studied acting at the Michael Howard Studios, and she also works in the theatre as an intimacy choreographer.

She is also a theatre theorist, historian and author. Her book, The Lines Between the Lines: How Stage Directions Affect Embodiment, was published by University of Michigan Press in October 2021 and focuses on what she terms "affective stage directions," which are stage directions written in ways that engage the physical and emotional responses of future theatre makers.

In this episode, we talk about her current book project which focuses on representations of mean teenage girls on stage in the American Theatre over the last century. We talk about how seeing and embodying those representations permeate young women’s psyche’s and how that may affect them when they get older, in particular, how they show up as business women and women leaders. I hope you'll join me for this fascinating and illuminating conversation.