Grade 7 students from Westpark Middle School were at the Pines campus on Friday to hear a message about the importance of positive self-talk and having a positive body image through a play called Under My Skin. (rdnewsNOW/Sheldon Spackman)

By Sheldon Spackman

Under My Skin

Body image play brings positive message to local students

Nov 22, 2019 | 3:19 PM

Roughly 160 Grade 7 students from Westpark Middle School gathered at the former Pines School on Friday to take in a play about body image and the pressures faced by youth from both peers and media.

‘Under My Skin’ is a production put on by students of RDC’s Theatre and Motion Picture Arts programs and is sponsored by the Red Deer Primary Care Network.

It highlights the huge influence that peers, family and media can have on a young person as it pertains to their looks, height and weight.

Production Manager Matt Dale says the show was written nine year ago and also deals with bullying and mental health.

“When we first started writing the show, it was all based on tabloids and magazines, and in the last decade, that’s kind of dwindled a little bit,” says Dale. “We focus a lot on cyberbullying now and the pressures that people see on social media. It’s forever changing and growing and what’s really exciting is this is the last year that we’re going to be using the show that we’ve used for the last nine years, as we’re going to be rewriting it from the ground-up for next season.”

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Dale says the 30-minute show has received a lot of positive feedback from students, teachers and mental health professionals.

“Teachers really seem to be loving what we do because actors present things in a very visual light, and they bring it to life,” he explains. “Mental health professionals, they’re used to seeing it laid out in front of them, seeing things on paper, but when we add a bit of creativity or some pizazz to it, they get excited and they see their own work in a light that they’ve never seen it before.”

Dale says Under My Skin does have humourous moments, but also contains human elements.

“Teachers really want us to expand on how to deal with cyberbullying, and to get into the social media aspect of it,” explains Dale. “These actors, they play grade seven students in the show and it’s them just kind of figuring themselves out. We have one girl who is pressured by her parents, her mom wants her to be the girly-girl and her dad wants her to be kind of a tomboy and she’s caught in the middle.”

Ethan Clark, a grade seven student at Westpark, says he enjoyed the play’s message.

“I thought it was pretty good,” says Clark. “You know, not doubting yourself, think positive. I had a good time watching it. Don’t get down on yourself, be yourself!”

Fellow grade seven Sadie Lunn describes the play as educational and relatable.

“A lot of people don’t talk about their problems and it’s a bad thing for them to not talk about it,” she says. “I’ll probably talk to more people about stuff that’s going on, so they can help me with it. It was just a really good thing to watch.”

Corey Hunter, grade seven team leader at Westpark, says the kids were focused, as they can relate to what goes on in middle school and how difficult it is.

“They see there is actually positivity that can come from talking with other people and from feeling good about themselves, positive self-talk and positive thoughts about themselves,” adds Hunter. “They like to see it actually being talked about, so they can digest and think about the information and help themselves out with it.”

From Nov. 13-22, Under My Skin was performed 18 times in 14 different schools for 1100 students throughout central Alberta.