Feminism, women’s rights, family —these are some of the themes in Theatre Northwest’s latest show, “When We Were Young and Unafraid.”
The play, by Sarah Treem, takes place prior to Roe v. Wade in the early 1970s. The story focuses on Agnes Engles, who owns a bed and breakfast, which is turned into a women’s retreat center. Engels was fired from her job as a nurse for performing abortions. Along with Engles, the center is also run by her daughter Penny Engles, a young and rebellious 16-year-old girl.
Show dates were 7:30 p.m. Nov. 13; Nov. 14 and Nov. 15; and 2 p.m. Nov. 16, in the Studio Theater at the Ron Houston Center for the Performing Arts. Senior Billie McCoy said portraying Agnes was a different experience from previous roles.
“A lot of my characters have very strong opinions and Agnes, although she is helping women get abortions and helping women, she's also just very neutral,” McCoy said. “I have had to change a lot of myself because I'm a very opinionated person, so becoming Agnes is a lot different.”
Penny adds another perspective to the women’s retreat as a determined woman who also wants to be “normal” like the other teenagers in her life.
Penny, played by Emercyn Koski, a first-year psychology student at Northwest, made her acting debut at Northwest with this production. Koski said her psychology background gives her a different perspective.
“I’ve definitely thought very deeply about her, especially because she gets very influenced by (character) Mary Anne in the show,” said Koski. “My psychology studies, and just looking at her from farther away, I can see how easily influenced she is; and at the point of life that she is being a teenager, just how her personality was affected.”
The bed and breakfast welcomes a wide variety of characters, such as Hannah, a raging feminist in the 1970s who is looking for a lesbian utopia. Another character is Paul, a music teacher fleeing to the island from Chicago to avoid what he calls “a hippie invasion.” The main resident of the bed and breakfast is Mary Anne Rainer, a woman who flees an abusive relationship at the bed and breakfast and becomes a mentor for Penny.
Freshman Phoenix Erwin portrayed Hannah. She said the diverse cast became a very close group.
“We're such a small cast; we're so tight-knit, so we can really get to know each other and connect,” Erwin said. “I mean, we've put things together so quickly, but we haven't really hit any major road bumps or anything. It's been great.”
“When We Were Young and Unafraid” was directed by Senior Paige Waddingham. Integrated into this show are both serious and divisive topics, but it balances these with lighthearted humor.
The show tells stories ranging from trying to ask a boy out to the prom to escaping an abusive relationship. Waddingham said while the specifics are fictional, some of these events happen to real people.
“I just kind of reminded them (the cast) how real this was, so that, while there's really dark, serious moments, it's also like something that gets brushed under the rug,” Waddingham said. “From the very beginning, I shared my vision, and they really adapted that into both scenes; so where it can transition quickly is, one, because of their talent, and two, because we all kind of understand that's the world.”
This is part of a story originally published on November 21, 2025.