When senior Karleigh Chase wrote her honors thesis, she did something few environmental science and policy majors do. She wrote a play.
Chase performed a portion of her play, “Memoirs of a Painted Woman,” on April 4 at Studio@620 in downtown. In her one-woman show, she portrayed the women of various famous paintings, giving her own adaptation of their thoughts on living life as a muse.
Characters in Chase’s play tell the audience how being a muse affected them. Mona Lisa became successful. The Girl with Pearl Earring describes it as tragic. Gala rejoices over the power she achieved. Marilyn Monroe became a martyr, completely destroyed by her experience as a muse.
Chase calls each of the muses “my girls.” She connected with the characters, not only through the writing of the play, but also through her own personal experience — she was a muse herself. When she began working on her thesis last fall, she was coming out of a relationship with an artist. She described it as a “difficult time ending being his muse.”
Unlike her “girls,” Chase is unsure how her experience as a muse will affect her. At the end of the play, Chase speaks as herself.
“It was incredible and empowering when it began, and tragic and devastating when it ended,” she said. “I am still trying to figure out whether it will strengthen or wreck me. Despite the ending, I would never take it back.”
Chase hopes her play will cause others to consider the lives of muses. She pleads with the audience to realize there is a real woman behind every muse painted by a male artist. She says that women are more than just a “decorative inspiration for a lot of people.”
Theater also has a personal meaning for Chase. She has been involved in the theater since she was 10 years old. She has performed in many local productions, but until now, art has always been separate from her schooling. She now calls environmental science and politics her “fall back” and plans to move to New York City to pursue acting after graduating in May. She wants to continue writing for theatrical productions.
Chase hopes to continue working on her show, as she says it lends itself to traveling around. If other venues will host her, she will perform.
