PACA's Spike Heels Provides a Pointed Commentary

Dave Schroeder

Spike Heels, playing throughout November at PACA, tackles difficult issues of friendship, love, sex, harassment, power, gender, and the way women are treated in the workplace.

Premiering Friday, Nov. 3

You wouldn't think that a 30-year-old play would be so relevant today, but unfortunately, some problems refuse to go away. Debuting in 1992, Theresa Rebeck's Spike Heels weaves a complicated story of sexual harassment, power dynamics, and the forever-confusing problems of romantic relationships.

Directed by KC McCloskey, the production stars Aimee Wokutch, Aaron Holman, Josiah Prittie, and Marie Glaser. Wokutch plays the lead as Georgie, a secretary at a Boston law firm. She arrives home from work one day to unwind and talk to her neighbor, Andrew (Holman), a political philosophy professor. She goes on to detail how her boss, Edward (played by Prittie) made wholly inexcusable comments to her, and tried to pass them off as a joke. Amidst  a budding flirtation between Georgie and Andrew, things become more complicated as Edward takes Georgie out for a date despite the already inappropriate nature of their relationship. Add Lydia (Glaser), Andrew's fiance to the mix, and things unravel further and further, forming an unstable love-quadrangle between the characters.

"This is still a conversation we're having," explained McCloskey (who serves as the artistic director of PACA as well as being co-owner of Footlights with Sara Little), noting that it's "about the treatment of women and what is right and what is excusable and in turn what that does to us as women." Speaking to the meaning that these topics have today, she reasoned that "as we see our rights continually threatened now, it's important to continue to talk about abuse, harassment, and the way we deserve to be treated. I think that now, we are far more receptive to talking about these issues and the trauma they cause and we've understood the value of those conversations."

As the production progressed, the cast and crew began finding new things about the source material. "The biggest thing that changed for me during the rehearsal process was the understanding and empathy for each character," McCloskey stated. "It's shifted how I think about each of them. It's kind of a rollercoaster of emotions across the whole play, working through the way they feel about each other, the way they treat each other, and talk to and about each other." 

Nov. 3 - 19, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7:30 p.m. (doors at 7 p.m.), Sundays at 2 p.m. (doors at 1:30 p.m.) // PACA, 1505 State St., Second Floor // Adult language and content // $20 // For tickets and more information go to tickets.eriereader.com