Mention My Beauty

Generational trauma and the Sexual and Women’s Liberation movements provide the canvas for Leslie Ayvazian's Mention My Beauty; playing through June 14th at New York Theatre Works In The Bricks Series. On a bare stage with only a music stand and a script, Ayvazian expertly engages her audience in a very personal story of transcending the things you were taught to believe about yourself and finding your true voice.

Born into a complicated Armenian family whose elder members escaped genocide by the Turks (a fact still unacknowledged by the Turkish Government) Leslie, the oldest daughter, was “The Pretty One”. Followed in birth order by two sisters “The Smart one”, and the “Athletic One”. Her Grandmother Maria was a renowned concert artist married to a doctor. This union produced Leslie’s father, a morphine addicted physician who longed to be an artist. Her mother raised her daughters to value beauty and deference to powerful, older men.

Ayvazian begins her tale in 1968 when, still in college, she marries a young soldier bound for Vietnam at the height of the antiwar movement. From there we follow her through a series of moments from her life as she grows from a woman who believes that beauty and her charm are her only currency to one who bravely speaks her truth.

It is no easy trip. Casual sexism permeates the piece such as the director of her college

production of Antigone who insists she wear a sheer blouse because of the character’s

“earthiness”.

The audience is drawn in by her warmth, humor, and vivid descriptions of the people who have populated her life. Above all, she does not pull her punches when it comes to the missteps she made along the way. Her recollections of harrowing moments are devoid of self pity, and softened by the hindsight of experience.

Clothing provides a running thread and starts with the girdle and garter belt she wears as twelve year old accidental class president. The descriptions ground the audience as we move through time, and give us a mental visual of the person she is becoming.

Above all, Leslie Ayvazian is a master storyteller at the top of her game. We are invested in her story and root for her success as she develops the self knowledge to take charge of her life.Through her eyes we can see ourselves and how far women have come but also how far we have to go.

Mention My Beauty runs through June 14th at the New York Theatre Workshop's In The Bricks series.

For More Information Visit New York Theatre Workshop's website here

Review By Wendy-Lane Bailey