‘It’s So Exciting’: NCHS Grad Claire Ayoub’s Film, ‘Empire Waist,’ To Debut at Playhouse

Growing up here in town, Claire Ayoub—New Canaan High School graduate, actor and award-winning writer/director—used to spend her entire summer at The Playhouse.

“That’s where I would go to see all the different movies,” Ayoub recalled one morning last week. “And half the time it was just, ‘I’m with my friends. This is fun.’ ”

Since launching from NCHS, Ayoub—daughter of local gynecologists—has gone on to run a production company and write an award-winning solo show, “The Gynokid,” among other accomplishments. 

And this month, Ayoub makes a triumphant return to The Playhouse.

Her new film, “Empire Waist,” a teen body image dramedy, debuts at the newly renovated Elm Street theater with an early screening this week and then opens Sept. 27 to the entire town (tickets here).

“It’s so exciting,” Ayoub said.

Asked how she was feeling about the imminent screening and theatrical release, she said: “How I’m feeling is honestly really grateful, because you have to understand that even as this is going nationwide—we’re going to be opening across the U.S. and Canada, then we’re going global on demand and I’m flying to Germany for opening weekend for a festival—the fact that it is so global, it still started so locally, and that is something that I will never stop talking about. How our town supported me and people who I’ve known since childhood, people I met when I moved home who really supported this project and what I was doing and me chasing this dream, but also telling this story that is already making an impact about body image and self love and self confidence. For me to be able to come back and do this early screening in New Canaan and then to be able to have the movie come to the theater, so I can just share it and come home and do screenings together with the people who supported me from day one, right when I moved home and I was like, ‘I’m directing a movie.’ And some of them were like ‘What?’ and then other people were like, ‘Oh, yeah, I see that. Let’s do this. What do you need?’ And that is the spirit of New Canaan: I know somebody who is in this field or I know someone who works with children and body image. I know somebody, let’s talk to the superintendent of schools. So for me, I have had so many people from New Canaan in my corner and the fact that we’re celebrating early in New Canaan, I know is just going to be fully surreal.”

Ayoub’s full-circle moment in New Canaan also is a testament to the school district and wider community.

“The fact that my career in the arts started in the public school system in New Canaan because we had arts funding—because we had that kind of funding—so I had the opportunity to direct at 14,” she said. “I had the opportunity to be exposed to theater at a young age, thanks to Melody Libonati who was running a program at the New Canaan Field Club where I went as a kid. I learned to love art so young because we had access to great people and the funding to make it happen. And that’s why I will shout till the end of my life about the importance of arts education and funding the arts in schools.”

Here’s a quick summary of “Empire Waist” from the official film website (see official trailer above): “Lenore Miller (Mia Kaplan) is an overweight, insecure teen whose talent for fashion is discovered by her confident, plus-sized classmate Kayla (Jemima Yevu), forcing her into the spotlight—and into the path of both bullies and new friends. But her image-conscious mother Rachel’s (Missi Pyle) fears and Lenore’s own deep self-loathing prevent her from wearing her own designs. Will Lenore ever feel the self-love she inspires in others? Written and Directed by Claire Ayoub, and also starring Rainn Wilson and Jolene Purdy.”

The film is a perfect fit for The Playhouse, under its new operator, Cinema Lab.

Asked about the company’s decision to host an early screening as well as to release the film the day it hits theaters nationwide, co-founder and CMO Brandon Jones said, “Cinema Lab is proud to support independent filmmakers, especially local filmmakers. Claire has put together an empowering film that we are excited to share at The Playhouse. We continue to seek unique stories that open hearts and perspective. Cinema Lab is known for filmmaker talkbacks and unmissable events, which Claire and ‘Empire Waist’ will bring to New Canaan.”

Ayoub’s own plus-one for the early screening will be her former NCHS principal, Tony Pavia. She describes him as “a mentor of mine.”

“He has been following my whole journey, my career,” she said. “And even then, when I moved home, I would meet with him for coffee because I was living in New Canaan and he was living in Stamford for half a year and in Florida the other half of the year. So he’d hang out with my parents in Florida and then I’d hang out with him in Stamford at his favorite coffee shop [Humbled on Hope Street]. I’d meet him at Humbled and we’d end up talking for two hours at a time. And it was just so great to hear his insights as an adult. Because I knew what an impact he had on me as a teen. What I respect the most about him, it’s not just celebrating the standout students. It wasn’t just celebrating the academic or athletic students, it was basically being there for all of his students. And he was there for all of his students at all different levels.”

Ayoub is taking her beloved educator’s vigilant and caring spirit and paying it forward. Part of what will go live on Sept. 27 on the “Empire Waist” website is a “Confidence Curriculum.”

Something she learned from Pavia was “how to break down information for parents or caregivers who are overwhelmed or putting a lot of pressure on themselves or kids putting a lot of pressure on themselves.”

In 2019 and early-2020, Ayoub did 17 live readings of the film across the country “and the response, besides people feeling seen, was people saying: What do I do next? What resources do you recommend?”

For Ayoub, the “Gynokid,” there is such a thing as vetted, up-to-date material related to health, and she set out to find that material as it relates to body image.

“So instead of having people walking out of the film with all these feelings and not being sure what to do, I thought: What if we had a space to send them that is not only a safe space to talk with stories, but also with vetted information from providers who are seeing patients, who are taking care of people already in the state and can speak to it as experts?” she said. “I got $250,000 in funding for Procter & Gamble, who have been incredible partners in that, because we wanted to make sure it was a free resource. So the only thing necessary would be to buy a movie ticket or stream the movie—everything else, the information would be free. And so that is thanks to their funding.”

To ensure the quality of the work, Ayoub said she brought in DEI consultants “to make sure that we were speaking to the larger population in the U.S. and around the world of caregivers.”

“It’s not just for parents and their kids,” she said. “It’s for tweens, teens, adults, any kind of caregiver taking care of a younger person. It could be for adult parents with adult children. And also just for adults to talk to each other and remove that shame around discussing body image and self confidence, because talking about it—as we do with this movie, even though it’s such a funny movie and it’s laugh out loud comedy—it’s still really important to talk about the tough stuff. Because when we do that, we realize we’re not the only ones feeling it. And that’s really empowering and also loosens the power that shame can have over us that we can heal. And that’s the most important part.”