Susan Poulin to perform 10th Anniversary Production of "In My Head I'm Thin"

April 8, 9 & 10
Friday & Saturday at 7:00pm
Sunday at 2:00pm

Town Hall, Main Street, South Berwick, ME
Tickets $15, $12 for Students, seniors & South Berwick residents
Reservations: 207-384-4526

"A Wicked Good Time at Town Hall!", comedy in South Berwick the second weekend of the month, concludes with "In My Head I'm Thin." Join Susan Poulin and Gordon Carlisle of Poolyle Productions as they celebrate the tenth anniversary of their theatrical collaboration by turning the spotlight on our national obsession with body image.

In that great fruit bowl of life, are you a pear or an apple? Does eating dessert feel like a mortal sin? Do you feel like your clothes are shrinking? Cheer up, you're in good company. After all, how do you think the Venus de Milo would look in a thong? "I love performing "In My Head I'm Thin" because every night I get to laugh, cry and sing my way to self-acceptance," says Poulin. "I always feel better about myself at the end of the play then I did at the beginning, and I think the audience does too. They seem identify with my journey."

"In My Head I'm Thin" is Poolyle Production's most visually rich play thanks to Carlisle's imaginative props. There are giant copies of nude figure paintings by Titian and Boucher with holes cut out for Poulin's head. She brings these voluptuous Venus's to life and they get to tell their side of the story. Plus, the show is peopled by some wacky characters like Bethany Perkenstien, an aerobic instructor from Hell who does everything in repetitions for 666 and Skip Somersworth, the sleazy host of the game show, "Where's Our Mind".

Says Carlisle, "All the information in the game show is true, but it's so off the wall that it takes the audience a few minutes to realize how startling the facts are. For example, more women fear getting fat than dying. That blows my mind!."

Christiane Northrup, M.D. author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom, The Wisdom of Menopause and Mother-Daughter Wisdom writes, "'In My Head I'm Thin' is one of the funniest and most uplifting shows I've ever seen. After I saw it the first time, I convinced our local girl scout leader to take her whole troop as a way to help "immunize" them against future eating disorders. It was a huge hit with all of them-and their mothers! This play should be required viewing for everyone in this country."

"In the decade since we wrote "In My Head I'm Thin", things have gotten worse, not better," says Poulin. "Every magazine cover features a new diet or exercise program, childhood obesity has reached epidemic proportions and we now have television shows like "Extreme Makeover" and "The Swan". Sitting in a darkened theater and watching someone struggle and come to terms with it all is like taking a mini-vacation. And remember, laughing burns up calories so you can indulge in a guilt free dessert at intermission."

Biography

Selected by Portland Magazine (Nov. 2003) as one of the "Ten Most Intriguing People in Maine", Susan Poulin has been a featured performer at the Women's Performance Festival at the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, The Maine Festival and the Minneapolis Fringe Theater Festival. She was voted the 1996 Contemporary Story Champion at the First Annual Yankee Yarns Contest in Keene, NH and has twice been selected as a New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Individual Artistic Fellowship Finalist. Poulin was recently awarded a 2005 NH Council on the Arts Traditional Arts Apprenticeship grant to study Traditional Franco-American Music with master artist Lucie Therrien.

Gordon Carlisle has been actively involved as a visual artist, songwriter, writer and actor on the New Hampshire Seacoast and in Southern Maine for over twenty years. A graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, Carlisle primarily makes his living as a visual artist, creating both private and public murals (including New Hampshire's largest mural, "Lest We Forget" in Manchester), graphics and illustration. His artwork has been exhibited around the US. In 1999, Carlisle was awarded a New Hampshire State Council on the Arts Individual Artist Fellowship for his achievement as a muralist.

As the "Poolyles", Poulin and Carlisle have been collaborating on plays, songs, and artwork for over a decade. Their critically acclaimed productions IN MY HEAD I'M THIN, SPOUSAL DEAFNESS. . . AND OTHER BONES OF CONTENTION, PARDON MY FRENCH! (nominated for the Portsmouth Herald's 2003 Spotlight on the Arts Award for best original script) and IDA: WOMAN WHO RUNS WITH THE MOOSE (the Portsmouth Herald's 1998 Spotlight on the Arts Award Play of the Year) have broken box office records throughout New England. Together, they've been commissioned to write theatrical presentations for a number of national organizations.


Thank you!
--
Susan Poulin
Poolyle Productions
24 Brattle Street
South Berwick, ME 03908
207-384-4526
info@poolyle.com
http://www.poolyle.com