Picture scantily-clad dancers strutting around on stage to "I know what boys like, I know what guys want."
No, this is not a scene straight from the stage of Babe's, a topless bar on Scottsdale Road. It's on campus in the play "True Confessions of a Go-Go Girl," which opens today at the Lyceum Theatre.
Directed by ASU theatre senior Justin DeRo and written by Jill Morley, a former go-go dancer in New Jersey, the play focuses on Morley's life as a go-go dancer.
As she explained in her author's note on the script, she would bring a composition book to the dressing rooms and write about everything that was going on around her.
"The play began as a way to humanize the women who did this job -- the women who commodified their sexuality for money. It ended up humanizing me as well," she said.
DeRo said students should attend the show because it's sexy and portrays go-go dancers in a realistic light.
"By the end of the show, they're not sex kittens anymore; they're the girl sitting next to you in psychology class," DeRo said.
Theatre sophomore Virginia Logan plays Jill Morley, the main character named for the play's author.
"I didn't know the true power of a woman until I started go-go dancing," Jill says in the play. "The sex industry is the only industry where women get paid more than men."
Logan said she wanted to be a part of the play because it showed the humanity behind the dancers.
Psychology freshman Katie Pengra portrays an alcohol- and drug-addicted go-go dancer who dances to support her two children.
In the play, her character Hailey says, "You'd be surprised at what you'd do when you have two kids to support."
Pengra said she wanted the role because it was a good opportunity.
"This play portrays [dancers] in a human way," she said. "They're usually labeled as sex objects when it's usually a situational thing. "
"True Confessions of a Go-Go Girl" will be performed at the Lyceum Theatre at 7:30 p.m. through March 12. Tickets cost $3 at the door.
Reach the reporter at jessica.r.white@asu.edu.
