A new stage production exploring issues of gender identity, infertility, bullying, pride, aging and body issues is making its world premiere in Philly.
“In My Body” is a unique show mixing song, spoken word, visual art and more Nov. 9-13 at Prince Theater. It is based on a book written by mother-daughter team Lis Kalogris and Kate Cipriano along with Melissa Hays, which was inspired by the song “In My Body.” The piece was written by gay couple Dan Martin and Michael Biello, who own the Biello-Martin studio in Old City.
Kalogris first heard the song performed live in 2004 and it resonated with her, as she spent the better part of her life feeling miserable about her body.
Five years later, her daughter, Cipriano, encouraged her to check out an exhibition of art and photography by Leah Macdonald, in which the artist tells stories about people living in their bodies with beauty, joy, pride, loathing and love.
Kalogris soon began brainstorming and conceptualizing the multi-arts body project that would become “In My Body” with her daughter, inspired by the music of Martin and Biello and the artwork of Macdonald.
“We started this about seven years ago and originally it was a nonprofit project and it only focused on women,” Cipriano said. “When we finished that project, there was an immense amount of response to the two-day performances we had at the Painted Bride. So we got together with Michael and Dan and we decided to make a full-length musical.”
All of the pieces mirror life experiences of the writers.
“We also did a lot of interviews and spoke with a lot of people,” Cipriano added. “We learned a great deal. Once we did the nonprofit project, people told us all their stories.”
“The show doesn’t have a narrative,” Kalogris added. “It’s a series of songs and spoken-word pieces and each one of those deals with a different topic. We have five actors who play a lot of characters. There are definitely song and spoken-word pieces that have a comedic edge but overall I would say we cover some pretty serious topics in serious ways.”
“It was really flattering and kind of surprising,” Martin said about his and Biello’s song being the catalyst for Kalogris’ and Cipriano’s show.
“It’s really a special gift when someone is moved so deeply by a song to actually give us a call and say they want to go deeper with it,” Biello added. “I think any artist would be like that. It feels good as the person that made it to have that kind of response to it.”
The couple also enjoyed the opportunity to write new songs for the musical.
“We wrote an entire new score for this musical which is inspired by our song, which includes and celebrates many other issues related to finding home in your body,” Martin said. “As with most collaborations, everyone is inputting all the time. Most of our collaborations have been like this, where the creative team is contributing a free flow of ideas. Then we make choices together and see what floats and what sinks. So the five of us worked for several years to put this together.”
“Each of them have their own individual voice and with the songs it was the same,” Biello added. “We’d present things and they’d give some input but we were writing the music and the lyrics. A couple of the pieces came directly out of stories that Kate and Lis shared with us and we turned that story into a mini-musical or song.”
The new musical version of “In My Body” expanded its scope of art, subjects and stories to include men and the LGBT community.
“We have a song called ‘Gender Full,’” Kalogris said. “We don’t believe in this notion of genderless. We believe that a person who identifies with both genders is someone that is full of gender. That song was something that came about probably midway into the project. It really addresses the topic of gender fluidity. We are definitely dealing with topics and LGBTQ themes in our show.”
“We took pieces of stories that we heard numerous times and issues that were really prevalent among the people who came to us and we created our characters’ songs and poems and stories from all the experiences that we had,” Cipriano added. “So now it’s pretty equal. The show has a great balance of stories from men and women. And they are universal. A lot of our pieces could be performed by a male or a female, either way.”
While the show confronts some serious issues, it does have some moments of humor and brightness to drive home a positive message.
“It’s an affirming journey,” Martin said. “Some of it is a whole lot of fun but some of it is deep. I’m hoping we found the right balance.”
“It goes into dark spaces because, of course, you are dealing with the body, but we keep returning to light and love and possibility within that struggle that we may have of living in our bodies,” Biello added. “It really moves around a lot. Some of the monologues and songs are very short. Some scenes are long. So it has a flow to it that takes you in and out of space. We’re careful with our audience and we want to have a safe space to travel on this journey in the body because there are some sensitive issues in it.”
Kalogris said she hopes the show’s message of acceptance and loving oneself connects with all audiences.
“Art in general is a way to bring people together and to make social change,” she said. “The performing arts really hit you over the head with a message, bringing it forth in an exciting way with body movement and singing and humor. This is a fantastic way to get the message out and get people talking and create social change.”
“You never quite know what people are going to make of things,” Biello added. “There are many interpretations for a single idea. If it’s good theater, which I know this is going to be, it’s going to present a lot of possibilities and emotions. I hope people come along as we intend but you never completely know that. We’ll find out.”
Prince Theater presents the world premiere of “In My Body” Nov. 9-13, 1412 Chestnut St. For more information or tickets, call 215-422-4580 or visit www.inmybodythemusical.com.