A Note from the Director...
“And the danger, girls, of age is
what you think age expects of you...
because the small incidents of life
will expand to fill the hours you allot
them. And the saddest thing in life is
those with the least time left
allowing less and less to fill more
and more.”-Jessie in Calendar Girls
Age has never meant that much to
me. I’ve always had friends and
relationships with considerable age
gaps (in both directions) and I try to
maintain a beginner’s mind. I intend
to continually pursue my passions
and creative preoccupations with the
blind hope I possessed in my early
20’s, led by some of wisdom and
experience the passing years afford,
indefinitely.
Yet, I cannot deny or remain
untouched by the social and cultural
expectations about what we should
be - and should no longer be - by a
certain age. Though men feel it too,
women experience a special variety
and intensity of pressure to adhere
to deadlines and cut off dates.
Pressure about what we wear, what
we show, how we express ourselves,
how we upkeep and extend the
appearance of youth, and so forth.
We adopt rules - many even
unspoken or even subconscious because it provides a sort of artificial
security in the face of the
uncertainties of life.
I become more convinced all the
time that there isn’t actually a
timetable for much of anything.
And that’s one of the central
messages of Calendar Girls.
Though the group signs on to make
the calendar to support the cancer
wing at their hospital, we discover
the project has added personal
meaning to each one. Dropping the
robe means coming out of a shell or
a role, having the bravery to admit
“this is what I am now,” standing up
for a friend, standing up for herself,
finally revealing “I’m not what you
think I am,” and more.