FROM THE INSIDE, OUT

BY HANNAH PERRI

Cutting. Self injury. Self mutilation. All words that make me cringe. I was surprised that I was so comfortable with the play From the Inside, Out even though it is about self-injury. I was moved and given a new perspective on this sensitive subject.

The story focuses on a girl named Maggie. She and her father are eating at an empty Indian restaurant. Maggie has something she wants to tell her dad, but she doesn’t know how. She tells herself that she will count to 30 and then tell him. Maggie counts in her head while her dad discusses politics. She passes 30 and continues to count.

Maggie first tells us that she got a B in her Creative Writing class because of an essay that she wrote about hardship and growth. Maggie chose to write about her mother who had died a few years earlier. Although Maggie thought that her clever metaphors and perfect grammar made her paper perfect, her teacher said that there was no “meat” in it.

From there, Maggie guides us through her true-to-life hardships. She tells us of the times when she so desperately wanted to scream and tell others that she was a cutter. Other stories of self-injury are seamlessly woven into Maggie’s tale as she desperately struggles for the right way to tell her father.

From the Inside, Out is relevant to anyone who has ever felt inadequate and unable to ask for help. This show definitely has “meat.”

From the Inside, Out is presented by 4th Meal Productions as part of FringeNYC. For more information visit www.4thmealproductions.org