Biting Comedy ‘Women Laughing Alone With Salad’ Is a Feminist Fantasia

John Turner

Looking for a raucous deconstruction of our image-obsessed culture? You’ll no doubt find it – and more – in “Women Laughing Alone With Salad,” a “Feminist Fantasia” comedy with performances at Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City from March 6 through April 3. The play, which takes its name from the oft-mocked Internet meme showing a woman who looks way too happy to be eating a bowl of salad, is a biting, sometimes rude, always hilarious examination of beauty and its stereotypes as seen through a feminist lens. Written by Sheila Callaghan, a playwright best known for penning episodes of Showtime’s “Shameless” and “United States of Tara,” the show will have its west coast debut at Kirk Douglas Theatre.

In an interview just prior to the “Women Laughing Alone With Salad” world premiere at Woolly Mammoth Theatre in Washington, D.C., in September 2015, playwright Callaghan said the genesis of the play was when journalist Edith Zimmerman published a scathing piece in 2011 on her site, TheHairpin.com, that included images of…well, you can guess. Zimmerman’s article quickly morphed into its own website, and Zimmerman’s message – that these photos of women, all alone and ecstatic about munching on salad greens were ridiculous – was a springboard for Callaghan’s script.

The somewhat loose plot of “Women Laughing Alone With Salad” focuses on the generically-named Guy (played by David Clayton Rogers) and his image-obsessed girlfriend Tori (Nora Kirkpatrick), who both have an on-again, off-again sexual relationship with Meredith (Dinora Walcott). Meredith has what might be the most revealing line in the entire show, spoken while the three are out for drinks: “I should have had more than just salad for lunch,” she says. “But guys love girls who love salad. The media told me.”

Guy’s mother Sandy (Lisa Banes) is a former Feminist Nazi who is now hell-bent on reversing her ageing looks. And attendees will be in for a shock as the play’s second act opens to reveal…well, quite a surprise. But that’s what Callaghan’s play is: revealing. And it’s one of the funniest shows audiences will ever see.

“Women Laughing Alone With Salad” is at Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City from March 6 to April 3. For more information and to purchase tickets see the venue’s show page.