What makes a person good?  More specifically, what makes a body good, and why do women all over the world obsess over that? This was the question explored in City Theatre's season opener, The Good Body, which ran in October. Directed by Tracy Brigden and written by Eve Ensler, most famous for The Vagina Monologues, The Good Body received its premiere as a three-woman show in Pittsburgh; all the previous New York and touring performances have been done with only one actress, Ensler herself.

The Good Body takes the audience on an exploration through the minds and bodies of women all over the world who are in search of ways to fix the one body part that irks them the most. The main character is playwright Eve, here played by Carnegie Mellon alumna Brigitte Viellieu-Davis instead of Ensler. The action of the play revolves around Eve's struggle to make peace with her middle-aged, somewhat expanded stomach. As she travels the world, various characters, played by actresses Laurie Klatscher and Erica Bradshaw, show her what things other women hate about their bodies, from feet so undesirable that they're broken and made smaller, to vaginas that are retightened to recreate the illusion of virginity. With each location that she visits, Eve falls further and further into the trap of wanting a good body, so much so that she loses her focus and the attention of her partner. In order to continue her work as a writer and a feminist, she must learn to make peace with, and ultimately love, her body.

The first thought that comes to mind when seeing this play is why Ensler, known for demanding change for the sick, abused, and disadvantaged women in the world, would write a play about her stomach when so much pain plagues our global society. As the play progresses, however, the answer becomes very clear: the worldwide obsession over having the perfect body actually keeps women from changing the world. Instead of fixing problems and learning about new cultures, Eve, as well as most of the female characters in the play, put all of their time and effort into what they think society wants them to look like. They are so distracted by this that they oftentimes let the best parts of their lives – lovers, self-esteem, compassion – drift away. Ensler's message is that in a world in which nothing is perfect, our obsession to achieve perfection is destroying us.

Without energetic and spirited actors, The Good Body would be all talk and no heart. It's a good thing that the three stars of the show brought personality and honesty to all of their roles. Viellieu-Davis' Eve was frank and open, starting off slow but gradually gaining momentum. Her performance didn't lack anything specific, but while Viellieu-Davis balanced the entire show on her shoulders, her costars shone very brightly. As a woman who has her vagina tightened as a present for her husband, Klatscher captured the passion, desire, and slight insanity of a woman who just wants to make someone else happy while also making herself desirable. In one of the funniest and most earnest moments of the night, Bradshaw, as fat camp attendee Bernice, stole the show with her protests of food rations and her statements on how much better fat girls have to be at everything in life in order to get people to love and respect them. Her performance had such spirit and great comedic timing that a few people literally laughed so hard that they cried.

The actresses know more than just comedy, though. Viellieu-Davis reached her peak during the surprisingly frank discussions about Eve's family, the sexual abuse of her father, and her overwhelming need for her mother to love her (which, she claims, is the root of her body obsession). Performing as an African and then an Indian woman, Bradshaw spoke with an amazing amount of clarity on how the body is not something to hate, but is rather a vessel and a well-oiled machine, something that loves you and deserves your love back. While the message feels a bit obvious, Bradshaw's performance comes off as earnest rather than cheesy.

In the end, we never learn what truly makes a good body. What we do learn, however, is that our bodies are our homes, and if we embrace them as such, we can and will find happiness within them. This realization is feminist, celebratory, but most of all, human, and that is why The Good Body works, both as a show and as a social commentary.

For more about City Theatre, visit the theater's website.

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