#documentary play

The cast and creative team of COAL COUNTRY. Read more from the New York Times. 

The Play:

Body/Courage

           Body Courage is a one-woman play that is created by Danielle Pinnock. She plays all the roles of the characters in the play, which are based interviews Pinnock has gathered over sometime. There are many types of people with all different types of body types represented in the interpretation of Pinnock skills of acting. The play included stories of people with an illness, different skin color, eating disorder, age, sex-worker, trans, races, and disability. Also the moments of childhood from Pinnock’s own life were especially interesting, seeing how she played the role of her grandmother and the troubled times she went through to find herself. In this collaboration she explains the pressure of appearances that society looks down upon.    

            The most motivating parts of the play were instants where people had the realizations of the worthy abilities of one’s own body, rather than how it has kept them back in life. An example of which was, of an Indian athlete who did not make into a team as a runner due to his low score but he saved a person’s life on a train because of his quick athletic ability. He understood after what he did that being on a team was not the only way to be a champion, but to use of his body in such a situation was more important. Other aspects of the play which were very note worthy were seeing the human in people who may be living life on their own beat, like the tan mom, who clearly seemed as someone who needed help but the way she puts herself towards the world just gets the judgments. However, Pinnock tired to go deeper and may be see the tan mom in a more humanly way upon a person that had her own issues.