Kalee Forsythe, left, and Gypsy Williams-Ratzlaff rehearse monday night for the play The

It’s no secret that most girls handle their problems differently than boys.

A physical fight might be a quick resolution to a boy’s quarrels. And that can attract attention from school officials and other adults.

But girls are more covert. Exclusion, gossip, rumor and slander easily can be dismissed or go unnoticed by adults.

This week, 10 teenage girls are shedding light on girl bullying and related aggression in the play “The Secret Life of Girls,” written by Linda Doughtery.

Play director Christie Dobson, youth and adult outreach coordinator for GaDuGi Safe Center, said aggression among girls isn’t researched or discussed often.

The play is a dramatization of the destructive nature of girl bullying, based on interviews with girls who were bullied or who were bullies. The audience will get a glimpse into the lives of two mothers, a demanding championship volleyball coach and her team, middle school girls struggling to find themselves and true friendship. The play also illustrates how cell phones and the Internet play a role in the way girls can abuse one another.

The performance is co-produced by the Lawrence Arts Center’s City Youth Theatre and GaDuGi Safe Center, a Douglas County organization that works to end sexual violence.

The problem starts in preschool when young girls learn about friendships, Dobson said. Girls highly value their friendships and social relationships and can use them to manipulate and isolate others. The problems can escalate in middle school and lead to body image issues and self-harm, and “it affects all of your relationships,” Dobson said.

“A lot of parents may not recognize it’s going on,” said Rain Quin Ian, 14, who plays a mother in the play.

“If you say ‘so and so said something mean to me,’ that’s not as serious as ‘someone punched me in the face,'” she said.

Emily Johnson, 15, who plays the coach, said it’s important for girls to express themselves with their friends.

“Girls have a problem of holding it in and gossiping. I think it’s fear,” she said. “Everyone’s afraid of confrontation, girls especially.”

Kalee Forsythe, 15, plays Abby, a grounded, genuine character with an encouraging and supportive mother. Later in the play, she falls subject to ridicule and isolation from her peers. Forsythe calls it “conformity that people fall into.”

She said the play was powerful and if there was one thing she wants her peers to learn from the play it would be to “treat others better,” she said.

“Realize how much you’re affecting people,” Forsythe said. “Don’t just say stuff without even thinking about it. I know we all do, we’re all guilty of it, but that’s one thing I feel like people are really going to see, how when one person says one little thing to someone they go home and they are upset – that’s one thing I think is important for people to take out of it.”