Nancy Churnin

After years of wondering how to ignite teen interest in live theater in the face of increasing competition from movies, television and the Internet, playwright Linda Daugherty proved something compelling in her sold-out world premiere of The Secret Lives of Girls at the Dallas Children's Theater last year.

Speak truth to teens about the dark side of what goes on in their lives, such as teen bullying, and they will come.

"I knew in my heart it would be popular, because I have a daughter, but I had no idea," Ms. Daugherty says from her Dallas home. By the end of the run, which was extended by a week, the theater had to turn people away.

"I think the numbers were very surprising for a teen show, but what surprised me the most was the way the teens watched the play, leaning forward, mouths opened as if seeing themselves in those actresses."

Now Ms. Daugherty, DCT's resident playwright, is back with the hot-button teen topic of eating disorders, showing how invisibly they can develop and how insidious they can be once they take hold. Her world premiere, Eat (It's Not About Food), opens at the Dallas Children's Theater tonight as part of the company's Young Adult Relevant Drama series.

As with The Secret Lives of Girls, the play ends with a question-and-answer session that encourages the audience to offer opinions, share stories and ask questions. DCT director Nancy Schaeffer has again cast local youths as the teens, and Ms. Daugherty has involved professionals specializing in this subject, including those from Girls to Women Health and Wellness, the Elisa Project and Children's Medical Center, as sounding boards; the experts will also serve as speakers and discussion facilitators after some of the performances.

DCT is also hosting a conference on eating disorders during the play's run. The Young Women's Healthy Living Conference, sponsored by the Elisa Project, will include performances of the show along with workshops, a health vendor fair and a conversation with Jenni Schaefer, author of Life Without Ed: How One Woman Declared Independence From Her Eating Disorder and How You Can Too (McGraw-Hill, $16.95).

TEEN VOICES

It won't be only the audience that learns something from the production. Some local teens in the show shared what they've discovered from their roles:

Evelyn Roberts (plays Amy), 15, Fort Worth: "Being a dancer, I have seen girls struggling with eating disorders and could never know or understand how that would feel. This show has been an amazing learning experience."

Meg Showalter (plays Lisa), 16, b>Dallas:

Senam Dey (plays Wrestler), 18, Coppell: "It's a struggle for young people of both genders to keep up with the pressures that society places on us, especially in the entertainment industry. I've been through the whole dieting thing, and what people need to learn is that leading a healthy lifestyle is what is most important. You shouldn't just be focused on an image."

Regen Routman (alternates as Jamie/ If Girl), 14, Dallas: "I didn't know that many teens were affected by eating disorders. It's scary. And I found out that boys had eating disorders, too, which I've never really thought about before. The great thing about Eat is that it shows you how much having anorexia or bulimia or stuff like that hurts everyone in your life."

Amanda Rojas (alternates as Jamie/If Girl), 15, Dallas:

Paolo Sintobin (plays Joey/Teen Boy No. 2), 17, Dallas: "I've known that eating disorders were a problem, but not to such an extent. What I found to be so surprising was all the little tricks that people with eating disorders come up with. I never knew that it was so serious that these people would do anything to knock off the amount of calories they ingest. Hopefully we will be able to educate our audience and maybe even prevent someone from suffering from this disease."