Loving Annabelle
D: Katherine Brooks; with Diane Gaidry, Erin Kelly, Ilene Graff, Kevin McCarthy, Gustine Fudickar, Michelle Horn, Laura Breckenridge
There is nothing so complicated as human relationships. Forbidden love is the prime focus of Brooks’ Loving Annabelle, inspired by the 1931 German film Maedchen in Uniform. Brought into the tedious drone of an all-girl Catholic prep school, Annabelle (Kelly), a nonconforming, self-proclaimed Buddhist and uncompromising lesbian who happens to be the daughter of a senator, sets her desires on her careful poetry teacher, Simone Bradley (Gaidry). While the sexual preference of Annabelle fails to be a subject of controversy among her peers, and ultimately the character is free of growing and changing, it is the unsuspecting character of Simone that struggles with hard decisions and development – all the while twirling her gold cross necklace, wondering, “Am I doing the right thing?” Meanwhile, inside and outside of the classroom, the winsome words of Rainer Maria Rilke echo within the hearts of Annabelle and Simone, anticipating the conclusion of an old tale.
This article appears in September 29 • 2006.