What Every Girl Should Know
by Monica Byrne

What Every Girl Should Know Book Cover
What Every Girl Should Know Cover

Synopsis

In a Catholic reformatory in 1914, three teenage girls (Anne, Theresa, and Lucy) pass the time with masturbation rituals, though they’re innocent of the “sinful” nature of their act.

Then a belligerent new girl, Joan, shows up, bearing illegal contraband: birth control materials distributed by the women’s-rights activist Margaret Sanger.

The girls start reading the material and jokingly pretend to venerate Sanger as a saint, but then undergo a profound conversion experience.

They begin to follow Sanger’s life in the newspaper, pretending that they’re traveling on their own, assassinating enemies and taking lovers at will.

Through their letters to each other, they reveal their pasts, marked by abuse.

The girls slide deeper and deeper into their fantasy world, to the extent that objects from their fantasy world start appearing in the real one—including a baby.

Performance

Cast

A small cast size of 4 total roles, 4 female roles.

Publication

Year Published
2015
ISBN 10
0822230461
ISBN 13
9780822230465
Binding
Paperback
Edition
1
Print Length
48 pages
Place Published
New York, NY
Language
English
LCC
PS3602.Y764 W43 2014
DCC
812/.6
Print
What Every Girl Should Know is a American teenage play written by and published by Dramatists Play Service in New York, NY, 2015. The print edition has an ISBN-13 of 9780822230465 and an ISBN-10 of 0822230461.

Rating

3.87 out of 5

from 48 ratings and 8 reviews

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