Opening the season with a new play Scratch, the Factory Theater on the opening night had a successful full house. The young female playwright and performer, Charlotte Corbeil-Coleman based it on her real mother's illness and her experiences within her close relationships of family and friends. To be infected with lice while her mother is ill and dying became an obsession for all concerned and she seemed to be tortured by its stigma and ostracism and yet longed for intimacy and understanding from her parents, best friend, aunt, and a poet lover. Controversial scenes showed her giving oral sex to this poet who took care of her mother, and where she sat while the other took turns looking for lice in her hair. This is a disturbing play which probably offered her an outlet, through stage therapy, to show her public shame and turmoil. Perhaps, her real family exaggerated her lice infestation which scarred her personality and relationships with them despite their concern and attempts to rid her of this. Most people are embarassed to be told of having lice, nits, fleas, mice, and other pests. Like dirt hidden under a carpet, it remains there often unspoken about when guests visit. However family and friends often speak about intimate personal subjects which are confidential within the circle. To show this in a public play and having the audience applaud is a bit disturbing since from this point on, she may now be known as the girl with lice who achieved commercial success and and critical acclaim. Hopefully, with her beauty and brains, she will move on to other subjects befitting her and be applauded for public accomplishments rather than personal embarassments.
