NPX Weekly Round-Up: stuffed by claire dettloff
A short but sweet ten minute play about bras, boobs, and womanhood, plus three other plays I liked this week.
No content warnings for this one! Happy reading :)
If you have any substantial boobage and you wear bras, you know the amazing feeling of taking off that horrible undergarment when you get home from work or school. It’s honestly indescribable how great it feels. As someone with chronic pain I don’t wear them very much, but when I do, that feeling is taken up to 11! Seriously, underwire is torture when you have rib/sternum pain like I do, it’s the actual worst.
But not everyone with breasts has experienced the feeling of taking off a bra at the end of a long day, because, well, some people are small enough that they don’t wear bras with underwire or clasps often. This is something claire dettloff uses in her short play, stuffed, to talk about the experiences of young women just coming into their adulthood.
Here is the summary from NPX:
at the twenty-four hour ihop, maggie and june spend the wee hours of the morning unpacking what it means to be "well-endowed."
Picture this: two twenty-one year old girls have been out at a frat party all night, and now they’re getting pancakes at IHOP at two or three in the morning. That’s where our story begins. Maggie and June are best friends, but they couldn’t be more different— in body type, that is. Maggie is, well, “well-endowed”, and June is not.
June is afraid she saw her boyfriend being inappropriate with another girl, Petunia Perry, at the party they were just at. Maggie, however, is so distracted by her uncomfortable bra that she isn’t paying attention. This turns into a discussion about curves on women’s bodies— what is desirable and what is not? How do we envy each other and why?
June is very clearly jealous of Maggie’s body. It’s something that Maggie is aware of before this point, but only just now points out. Maggie lists all the reasons that having bigger boobs is actually annoying, and after a short debate, the girls decide there’s probably pros and cons to both having and not-having larger boobs. After this, Maggie decides that June absolutely needs to experience what it is like to take off a bra when you have double D’s, which leads to June wearing Maggie’s dirty bra and stuffing it with pancakes.
I know, I know, it sounds ridiculous, but it’s so funny! Neither of these girls are completely sober, they’re having fun, and they clearly trust each other completely. It’s sweet, actually. Even more hilarious is that their male waiter is so focused on boobs that he can’t seem to recognize either of them if they don’t have Maggie’s bra on (because, obviously, he’s been staring at their boobs and not their faces)!
We realize at the end that both of these girls envy the previously slandered Petunia Perry, and how every guy seems to think she has the best body (multiple wins at wet t-shirt contests seem to prove this). The girls decide that, while they may wish to look like her, it’s probably only nice “until it isn’t”.
All women, hell, all people, have body insecurities. It’s true! I bet even supermodels have them. It’s especially hard for women and femmes, because body “types” go in and out of style like clothing, meaning one year you may have the ideal body, but the next you may be too “fat” or “skinny”. Capitalism and patriarchy are always giving us something to hate about ourselves. But looking “perfect” is only nice until, as the characters in this play say, “it isn’t”. Every single experience on earth has pros and cons. Nothing is without a downside, just like I would argue most things aren’t without an upside.
This play is truly about early womanhood and finding out how to love yourself through that experience. And I think the play’s answer to the second part of that is to begin through your friendships. Maggie and June support each other and love each other, even when they’re calling each other out. They’re playful, silly, kind, and understanding. They learn through each other’s lived experiences! I think that’s something a lot of college aged people, regardless of gender, will understand.
While upon first read the events in this play may seem inconsequential, the girls are saying a lot without really having to actually say much at all. They aren’t trying to discuss patriarchal ideas of attractiveness, they just…happen to by discussing their experiences. I think sometimes beginner writers of all mediums fall into the trap of being too obvious, preachy, or on-the-nose, because they feel that they have to convey their larger message explicitly to the audience. However, you can convey theme fairly explicitly without the characters stating it outright by just having them discuss how different events and experiences have made them feel and think. Essentially, don’t overthink it! Want to talk about something complex, like beauty standards? All you need are two people those standards effect to talk about their everyday existence, or to show moments in their everyday lives. No need to overcomplicate it!
Here is my official recommendation of stuffed on NPX:
A funny, sweet, and earnest piece about female friendship, beauty standards, and being a drunk college kid. Very humorous while discussing very real issues that young women run into on a daily basis regarding their bodies. Great dialogue that highlights the themes without hitting you over the head with them. Beautiful!
Did you like this play? Do you want to read it? Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Here are three more plays to add to your library this week. Buuuuut this week has a twist! I’ve made it into a poll— vote for your favorite and I’ll cover it next week. Hurry though, the poll is only open for three days!
Have a play suggestion for me? Email me or message me here on SubStack!
Happy writing (and reading)!
~Brynn