Fefu and Her Friends

In Part 3, it’s evening and the women are back in the living room, gathered around the piano and singing. Cecilia gives a speech about knowledge, asserting that sanity and intelligence result from the ability to process information and place it within context. Moreover, people need to have others who agree with the way they have interpreted information, but the educator must also be sensitive to the way people are different. Julia wishes that she could be with others who are hallucinating so she wouldn’t feel alone. Then Julia suggests that they start rehearsing. Fefu begins and briefly explains what she will talk about. Then she introduces Paula, who worries about whether she can speak without notes. Paula introduces Emma, who gives a dramatic reading from a text about teaching theater to children.

After Emma’s performance, all but Cindy and Julia exit to the kitchen to make coffee and wash dishes. There is laughter in the kitchen, and Christina races into the living room to say that the other women are having a water fight to decide who has to wash the dishes.