Serg
Gallery
All seems serene as the play begins. Phyllis (Susan Lynskey), a psych professor at Shirley State College, stands at a podium in a tailored black pantsuit and addresses faculty members and students. She’s proud to launch Body Awareness Week, intended as a critical examination of American culture and how said culture affects the way we view our own bodies and those of others. Amid the lectures and panels will be multi-culti guest performers—a dance troupe from Palestine, a gospel-klezmer duo, and an exhibit in the student union by a male photographer who shoots nude photos of women and girls. Oops. That last one got past Phyllis.
MaryBeth Wise, Susan Lynskey and Adi Stein in ‘Body Awareness’ by Annie Baker at Theater J through Sunday. (Photo by C. Stanley Photography)
As the play opens, it’s Body Awareness week at Shirley State College in Vermont. Psychology professor Phyllis (Susan Lynskey) predicts all too accurately that, “we have five eventful days ahead of us.” Like Wendy Wasserstein’s “The Heidi Chronicles,” “Body Awareness” is structured around a series of addresses by a feminist academic, but Baker’s writing is less self-conscious and more self-assured and her character’s use of humor is more organic and less self-defensive.
Latest News on Susan Lynskey:
(Jul 18, 2025) (Jun 13, 2025) (Jan 16, 2025)
What awards has Susan Lynskey been nominated for?
