Lessons in Strength, Feminism & Love: The Grown-Up Story of Anne Shirley
The first time I encountered Anne Shirley was onstage in a community theatre production in Tacoma, Washington. Sixteen and in love with theatre, I was happy to just be near the action — playing not Anne, but her flighty friend, Ruby Gillis — and to have kids my age to hang out with backstage. Each night I watched from the wings, and as Anne pleaded her case to be loved, respected, and seen beyond being “just a girl,” she seeped further into my deepening feminist consciousness.
Anne would later pop up in various incarnations in my career as a teaching artist: directing a summer camp production that starred a girl who found her voice despite being mercilessly teased during the school year; stage managing a production that featured a young woman who was literally heckled by an audience member, who shouted out, “I don’t know what they’re talking about, she’s not that skinny!” (which, in this particular case, was true mostly because the actress in question was the muscular captain of her high school crew team). But each girl who stepped into the role gained the confidence to face the trials of adolescence, fueled by Anne Shirley’s indefatigable strength. I’ve since wondered how those young women have fared as they’ve grown up and the challenges have shifted from playground bullies to larger scale obstacles.
As women, we often have to build and maintain walls against street harassers, online commenters, and the media in general. How do we remain strong without becoming steely? How do we let love in while staying aware of boundaries? How do we hold on to our own dreams while building a life with a partner? It’s this question that the musical Anne and Gilbert, currently in a near sold-out run at the National Arts Centre of Canada, tackles.
Anne and Gilbert, a musical adaptation of the books Anne of Avonlea and Anne of the Island, takes up where Anne of Green Gables leaves off, and follows the dueling forces of career, family, and love in Anne’s life. While she no longer smashes teaching implements over Gilbert Blythe’s head, she still spurns his advances at every turn despite its being clear to everyone in Avonlea that she is in love with him. Anne’s struggle is rooted in the issues we all face: how to negotiate our adolescent dreams of true love with the reality of an adult, real-life relationship, and how to believe that we are truly worthy of unconditional love. Anne and Gilbert details Anne’s struggle to maintain her independence, romantic ideals, and sense of adventure as she matures, along with the humor and audaciousness we’ve come to expect from L.M. Montgomery’s famous red-head. The show entertains with beautiful, catchy music, while allowing the same young people who grew empowered by Anne the child to be inspired by Anne the young woman.
Much of my joy as a teaching artist comes from not only experiencing my own successes, but those of the kids whose lives I’ve had the pleasure to be a part of. Some of the (former) kids I’ve worked with have become theatre producers, film actors, school teachers, and even software engineers. Theatre training in particular instills kids with the strength and confidence to speak up and “lean in” — traits that Anne herself is famous for. I don’t know where all of the young Anne’s of my past are today, but my hope is that, like in Anne and Gilbert, they have taken on the next chapters of their lives with courage, humor, and the ability to accept love that comes their way. Perhaps even especially when it’s not always as obvious as, say, a slate over the head.
For more information about Anne and Gilbert, please click here. To buy tickets to Anne and Gilbert at Canada’s National Arts Centre, click here.
