Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

WHAT I DID AT CAMP…LIT CAMP, THAT IS.

2013-04-18T20:19:00.000-04:00

I did not make one macramé bracelet. I did not sleep in a sleeping bag. I did not, like I used to do at Girl Scout camp, make a torch out of kotex and kerosene to light the campfire with. What I did was bond, brainstorm and become a more skilled and informed writer.

Even though LIT CAMP wasn’t set to start until Thursday, April 4^th, I flew into San Francisco a few days early to spend time with old friends in Napa. It was “Bud Break” and I warmed up to the west coast with a day of Pinot tasting before heading up to Calistoga and Mayacamas Ranch, the site of the first ever LIT CAMP.

Thursday, April 4^{th -}Arrive at 3PM. The first person I meet is my workshop leader, Janis Cooke Newman, who checks me in with a smile and a hearty, “I’ve read your work!” At 4PM the 40 LIT CAMPERS, faculty and interns gather for a meet and greet and the first panel: Demystifying the World of Publishing with Jane Ciabattari, former president of the National Book Critics Circle, Nicole Dewey, Director of Publicity at Little Brown, Sam Barry, a bookseller with Book Passage, Caroline Paul, author of Fighting Fire and the upcoming Lost Cat, and Chris Colin, author of Blindsight.

MY DAY ONE POSTCARD TO MYSELF: Remember books are a retail business - publishers expect you to be a big part of selling your book. Pre-publication reviews are very important. When you write a book proposal you should answer these questions: Why this book? Why now? Why are you the best person to write it?

April 5^th – Wake up to pouring rain, bowls of fresh strawberries and the first workshops. We are divided into groups of both fiction and non-fiction writers) - The Beats, The Victorians, etc., (each group had the chance to read each others work before camp began) and this morning we focus on three work samples. Day one’s workshop leader, Janis Cooke Newman’s “Elvis has left the building” workshop style is a great formula for to-the-point, savvy and insightful commenting.

DAY TWO POSTCARD: All characters should exhibit bad behavior at some point. Because we love our characters we tend to protect them but at some point we have to let them have a bit of fun. Must read, “The Art of Subtext: Beyond Plot” by Charles Baxter.

After lunch it is an authors roundtable with Lee Kravetz, author of the upcoming, Supersurvivors, the surprising link between suffering and success, Ethan Watters, author of Crazy Like Us and TJ Stiles, author of the Pulitzer prize winning, The First Tycoon.

MY DAY TWO POSTCARD (con’t): Get “Freedom”! It blocks the Internet from your computer so that you can write Internet/e-mail free for as long as you set it!

After dinner it is the auction for the naming rights for the LIT CAMP COCKTAIL (2 oz of vodka, ½ oz lime juice, and ginger beer over ice). The bidding is fierce but in the end two amazing women match each others bid. Pat Montandon and Chris Castro will be remembered at future LIT CAMPS as the mothers of the Montandon-Castro. Drink up!

April 6^th Morning workshop is led by Adam Johnson, author of The Orphan Master’s Son (just won the Pulitzer). Adam has us all describe our writing habits, distilling them into the many ways that writers get themselves to their desks.

In the afternoon Jane Ganahl, author and co-director of LitQuake and Lit Crawl and Janis Cook Newman, author of the memoir, The Russian Word for Snow and the novel, Mary, host a roundtable.

DAY THREE POSTCARD: In memoir only include events that pertain to your emotional story. Place those events in the order where they will be the most dramatic. Also, a book proposal should look like it is going to make a ton of $$$ and I don’t mean expensive paper and gold ink – see Day One postcard re books as retail.

The roundtable is followed by a panel: Behind the Scenes at Literary Magazines. Andi Mudd from The Believer and McSweeney's, Oscar Villalon from Zyzyzzva, and Isaac Fitzgerald from The Rumpus.

Having just come from the very fun but very serious and sometimes jaded AWP conference in Boston, this panel is refreshing. Andi, Oscar and Isaac are the most positive, funny and upbeat publishers/editors I have ever heard speak. They are excited about writing and clearly love writers. I love them right back.

After dinner it is time for The LIT CAMP Talent Show - Hosted by Isaac Fitzgerald. I laugh so hard my stomach hurts.

April 7th Our last day :( Two pieces to workshop with TJ Stiles.

LAST POSTCARD TO MYSELF: Remember that plot is setting up expectations and then fulfilling those expectations.

And then suddenly it is over. Everyone piles into Chaparral Lodge, picks up box lunches and says goodbye. I am so sad as I drive down the hill as it begins to rain (again). It was too short. I met incredible writers. I heard fabulous speakers. Now something calls me back to my New York City desk.

Until we meet again, fellow LIT CAMPERS and new friends. Thanks for the incredible memories.

Go bananas,

“Aphra Behn”

Lit camp is a joint venture between two of San Francisco's most respected literary organizations – Litquake and the SF Writers Grotto. For more info visit http://www.litcampwriters.org

GIRLCOTT ALERT - THE ALLEY THEATRE, HOUSTON ANNOUNCES SEXIST SEASON!

2013-04-09T15:37:00.001-04:00

Last season it was the Guthrie Theatre and the Actors Theatre of Louisville (as well as hundreds of others).

This season it's THE ALLEY THEATRE. The HOUSTON PRESS just announced that THE ALLEY THEATRE's next mainstage season is 9 plays by WHITE MEN.

“…the Alley Theatre's 2013-14 season announced today will be dominated by American plays and give female actors a special chance to shine, according to Alley Artistic Director Gregory Boyd.”

SOURCE: Houston Press Blog

http://blogs.houstonpress.com/artattack/2013/04/alley_theatre_announces_its_20.php

GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR! CALLS FOR A GIRLCOTT OF THE ALLEY THEATRE

WRITE, TWEET, FeMAIL and FAX Artistic Director, Gregory Boyd, and tell him you are Girlcotting The Alley and will not buy a ticket until he includes a play by a woman on the main stage.

FAX THE ALLEY THEATRE: 713 222-6542

CALL THE ALLEY THEATRE: 713 228-9341 TWEET: @alleytheatre @GuerrillaGsOT #girlcott

FeMAIL: Gregory Boyd gboyd@alleytheatre.org

CC PR Associate Lauren Pelletier laurenp@alleytheatre.org

ALLEY THEATRE'S PRESS RELEASE:

FOR RELEASE
April 6, 2013

MEDIA CONTACT:
Rodi Franco, Director of Communications, (rodif@alleytheatre.org), 713.315.3352
Lauren Pelletier, Public Relations Associate, (laurenp@alleytheatre.org) 713.315.3364

Highlighting Alley Theatre’s Upcoming Season: The Good Woman of Setzuan by Bertolt Brecht, Never the Sinner by John Logan,Other Desert Cities by Jon Robin Baitz, Venus in Fur by David Ives, Freud’s Last Session by Mark St. Germain, and Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire
-Also featured are Alan Ayckbourn’s Communicating Doors, Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman’s You Can’t Take It With You.
-This summer, Agatha Christie’s The Hollow will be produced as the ExxonMobil Summer Chills production.

HOUSTON, Texas – Gregory Boyd, Artistic Director of the Tony Award-winning Alley Theatre, announces its thrilling new season of plays created by playwrights that include a Pulitzer-Prize winning comedy, a new play that was the Outer Critics Circle’s Outstanding, New Play winner, the first play by a Tony Award winner, a 2011 Tony Award nominee for Best Play, plus an ingenious comedy from acclaimed, award-winning playwright Alan Ayckbourn and an intriguing epic by Bertolt Brecht.

Kicking off the Alley Theatre’s 67^th season is perhaps the greatest American comedy ever written, Kaufman and Hart’s You Can’t Take It With You on the Hubbard Stage and the new sexy, provocative comedy Venus in Fur by David Ives on the Neuhaus Stage.

The season continues on the Hubbard Stage with a riveting new play by Pulitzer Prize nominee Jon Robin Baitz, Other Desert Cities, and a fascinating new play on the Neuhaus Stage where professor and author C.S. Lewis visits psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud in Freud’s Last Session by Mark St. Germain. Returning to the Alley are Tony winner John Logan, with the play that launched his career, Never the Sinner on the Hubbard Stage and award-winning acclaimed playwright Alan Ayckbourn, with his ingenious comic tour de force where Back to the Future meets Hitchcock in Communicating Doors.

The final show of the season on the Hubbard Stage is the 2011 Tony Award nominated Good People by David Lindsay-Abaire and the final show on the Neuhaus Stage is Bertolt Brecht’s The Good Woman of Setzuan.

This summer’s ExxonMobil Summer Chills production is Agatha Christie’s The Hollow. This is the first time the Alley will produce this play. Season ticket buyers can purchase tickets now with their season package. Tickets to the public will go on sale in May.

Also available now to season ticket buyers are tickets to Houston’s holiday favorite, A Christmas Carol on the Alley’s Hubbard Stage. Adapted and created by Artistic Director (and Alley Artistic Associate) Michael Wilson, the production incorporates elaborate scenic, costume, and lighting design and features a cast of over 15.

The Alley’s subscription season includes five plays on the Hubbard Stage and three plays on Neuhaus Stage, all produced in the Alley’s two-theatre complex at 615 Texas Avenue in downtown Houston.

Casting for this summer’s ExxonMobil Summer Chills production and plays in the 2013-2014 season will be announced at a later date.

ALLEY THEATRE’S 2013-2014 SEASON INCLUDES:Please note: play titles and dates are subject to change.
You Can’t Take It With YouBy Moss Hart and George S. Kaufman
Hubbard Stage
September 20 to October 20, 2013

This Pulitzer Prize-winning classic by the team of Kaufman and Hart (The Man Who Came to Dinner, 2009) is perhaps the greatest American comedy ever written. Alice Sycamore must introduce her fiancé’s straitlaced family to her rather more eccentric family. When the wildly different families meet, the worlds of the wealthy, uptight Kirbys and the off-kilter Sycamores collide. At first the Sycamores seem mad, but it is not long before we realize that if they are mad, the rest of the world is madder. Kaufman and Hart’s hilarious You Can’t Take It With You features the Alley Resident Company of Actors. Recommended for general audiences.
Venus in FurBy David Ives
Neuhaus Stage
October 18 to November 17, 2013

Theatrical mastermind David Ives’ sexy, provocative comedy, Venus in Fur, is an electrifying game of cat and mouse between a young actress and a demanding playwright-director that blurs the lines between fantasy and reality, seduction and power, love and sex. "Role-playing takes on a whole new meaning" (New York Post) in this "don’t miss" play The Wall Street Journal says is "deadly serious, madly funny … you won't see a funnier play this season, or a smarter one."Recommended for mature audiences.
Other Desert CitiesBy Jon Robin Baitz
Hubbard Stage
January 10 to February 2, 2014

A riveting new play by Pulitzer Prize nominee and creator of TV's hit drama Brothers & Sisters, Jon Robin Baitz’s Other Desert Cities was named the Outstanding Play by the Outer Critics Circle and called "the best new play on Broadway" by The New York Times. After a six-year absence, Brooke Wyeth returns home to Palm Springs to celebrate Christmas with her parents, brother and aunt. The warm desert air turns chilly when news of her upcoming memoir threatens to revive the most painful chapter of the family’s history. The New York Daily News calls this dysfunctional family drama "a winner … funny and fierce, invigorating and intelligent." Recommended for mature audiences.
Freud’s Last SessionBy Mark St. Germain
Neuhaus Stage
January 24 to February 23, 2014

Freud’s Last Session centers on legendary psychoanalyst Dr. Sigmund Freud, who invites a little-known professor C.S. Lewis, (who later wrote the children’s classic The Chronicles of Narnia), to his home in London. Lewis, expecting to be called on the carpet for satirizing Freud in a recent book, soon realizes Freud has a much more significant agenda. On the day England enters World War II, Freud and Lewis clash on the existence of God, love, sex, and the meaning of life. "The humor is plentiful" (The New York Times) in this "thrilling" (Variety) tête-à-tête. Recommended for general audiences.
Never the Sinner: The Murder Trial of the CenturyBy John Logan
Hubbard Stage
February 21 to March 16, 2014

Playwright John Logan – who received three Academy Award nominations and wrote the recent James Bond film Skyfall, and won the Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic Circle and Drama League awards for his play Red (Alley production, 2012) – returns to the Alley with the play that launched his career. Never the Sinner is about two boys who commit a murder – not for gain, or out of passion – just to do it, just to experience the thrill. Based on the infamous 1924 trial of Leopold and Loeb, Never the Sinner is their story, and the story of one of the most famous American lawyers and civil libertarians, Clarence Darrow. In the case of a lifetime, Darrow is called in to defend the monstrous and try to win freedom for the depraved. Recommended for mature audiences.
Communicating Doors
By Alan Ayckbourn
Hubbard Stage
April 4 to April 27, 2014

Award-winning playwright Alan Ayckbourn (House & Garden, 2002) returns to the Alley in this ingenious comic tour de force where Back to the Future meets Hitchcock. In 2024 Phoebe, a "private personal services consultant," finds herself with an elderly client in a posh hotel room – she opens the wrong door and finds herself running for her life. Soon she is confronting her own past by way of a woman named Ruella, and the two join forces to prevent a murder, while Phoebe's gradual friendship with that remarkable woman changes the future for both of them. Eleven plays penned by Alan Ayckbourn have been produced by the Alley, including the American premiere of Henceforward in 1987. Alan Ayckbourn has been inducted into the American Theatre’s Hall of Fame, received the 2010 Critics’ Circle Award for Services to the Arts, became the first British playwright to receive both Olivier and Tony Special Lifetime Achievement Awards and was knighted in 1997 for services to the theatre. Recommended for adults due to language.
Good People
By David Lindsay-Abaire
Hubbard Stage
May 16 to June 8, 2014

Nominated for a 2011 Tony Award for Best Play, Good People is a funny, tough and tender story about the insurmountable class divide. When Margie Walsh loses her job at a South Boston dollar store, she reaches out to old flame Mike, a neighborhood boy who escaped and became a successful doctor. Margie's attempt to hit Mike up for a job takes on a surprising twist when she realizes the power a secret from Mike's past holds. From Pulitzer Prize winner David Lindsay-Abaire, Good People looks at the extraordinary consequences of choosing to hold on to the past or leaving it behind. "Thoroughly absorbing ... Good People is good stuff" (Variety) and one of the finest new American plays. Recommended for mature audiences.
The Good Woman of SetzuanBy Bertolt Brecht
Neuhaus Stage
May 30 to June 29, 2014

Can we practice goodness and create a world to sustain it? In Brecht’s comic, intriguing epic play, this question is raised by one of his most entertaining characters, Shen Teh, the good-hearted, penniless, prostitute who is forced to disguise herself as a savvy businessman named Shui Ta to master the ruthlessness needed to be a "good person" in a brutal world. Recommended for mature audiences.
SUMMER PRODUCTION

ExxonMobil Summer ChillsAgatha Christie’s The HollowBy Agatha Christie
Hubbard Stage
July 5 to August 4, 2013

A weekend gathering at The Hollow family estate of Lady Lucy and Sir Henry Angkatell explodes in the murder of one of their guests, physician John Cristow. When the good doctor is found shot, almost everyone is suspect with opportunity and motive including his dim but loyal wife, his current mistress, and his ex-mistress, who lives on a neighboring estate. Don’t miss this classic Christie whodunit filled with brilliantly eccentric characters. Recommended for general audiences.
HOLIDAY PRODUCTIONS:
Houston's Holiday FavoriteA Christmas Carol - A Ghost Story of ChristmasBy Charles Dickens
Adapted and Originally Directed by Michael Wilson
Directed by James Black
Hubbard Stage
November 15 – December 29, 2013

2013-04-05T00:58:00.001-04:00

Touring through northern california and came across this....ah equality and Prop 8.

Presidents Day Pop Theatre Quiz

2013-02-18T11:47:00.000-05:00

GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR’S PRESIDENT’S DAY

POP THEATRE QUIZ!

Q: What happens when you recognize a theatre company for producing at least 50% plays by women in 2012?

A: They produce a majority of plays by men in 2013.

The International Centre for Women Playwrights recently announced its inaugural 50/50 Applause Awards presented to five US theatre companies for seasons of plays with half or more written by women.

The winners were: Cleveland Public Theatre, Cleveland, OH; Little Colonel Theatre, Pee Wee Vally, KY; Nora Theater, Cambridge, M A; Playwrights Horizons, New York, NY; and, Symmetry Theatre, Berkeley, CA.

When I read this I was overjoyed. Then I felt a knot in my stomach. Was that brown banana that I had for breakfast over ripe? Or did my gorilla intuition tell me to do the 5-minute research technique. Here’s what I found out about these theatre companies in a 5-minute search of the internet about their current seasons.

[Trigger Alert: Sexism in theatre]

Cleveland Public Theatre

10 men 7 women

NOTE: CPT’s web site lists productions that have not been yet been chosen. Also, several of CPT productions seem to be produced by other companies. These productions were not counted.

Little Colonel Theatre

5 men 1 woman

Nora Theater

4 men 3 women

Playwrights Horizons

4 men 4 women

Symmetry Theatre
1 man 2 women

Three of the five recipients of the 50/50 Applause Awards are producing more plays by men than women this year.

I guess giving awards doesn’t help.

Stay tuned for the second annual speak out - “WE ARE THEATRE” – an evening of kick ass plays that stand up for gender parity September 2013.

Until then, buy tickets to shows at Playwrights Horizons and Symmetry Theatre.

In sisterhood,

Guerrilla Girls On Tour

http://www.facebook.com/wearetheatre

http://www.twitter.com/OccupyBroadway

GOOD NEWS!

2012-12-20T20:03:00.007-05:00

And now the GOOD NEWS! The following theatres will produce 50% (or more!) plays by women in their 2012/13 main stage seasons. BUY A TICKET FOR ONE OF THESE THEATRES!

Guerrilla Girls On Tour's

GOOD NEWS LIST 2012/2013

Theatres that present 50% or more plays by women

in their 2012/2013 Main Stage Seasons!

New Georges, New York NY *

Women’s Project, Philadelhia PA *

Women's Project Theatre, New York NY *

Arizona Women’s Theater Company, Scottsdale AZ *

Looking For Lillith, Louisville KY *

Orlando Repertory Theater, Orlando, FL *

Tennessee Women’s Theater Project, Nashville, TN *

Halcyon Theater, Chicago, IL *

Rivendell Theater, Chicago, IL *

Hyde Park Theatre,Austin, TX *

Kitchen Dog Theater,Dallas, TX *

Borderlands Theatre, Tucson, AZ *

New York Theatre Workshop, New York NY *

NC Stage Company, Asheville, NC *

Playwrights Horizons, New York, NY *

Bushfire Theatre of Performing Arts, Philadelphia, PA *

Golden Thread, San Francisco, CA *

Children’s Theatre Company, Minneapolis, MN *

New Ground Theatre, Davenport, IA *

Stage Works, Tampa, FL *

3 Girls Theatre, San Francisco, CA * (100% female playwrights!!!)

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater, South Orange, NJ

Adobe Theater, Albuquerque, NM

Gala Hispanic Theater, Washington DC

New Jersey Repertory Company, NJ

Center Rep, Walnut Creek, CA

Cara Mia Theater Company, Dallas, TX

First Folio Theatre, Oak Brook, IL

The Mammals, Chicago, IL

* indicates multiple years on the Good News List

MORE GOOD NEWS

7 theatres that were on the Girlcott List last year are now on

the Good News List!

The theatres that went from producing NO

plays by women to producing 50% or more plays by women are

(drumroll…..):

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater

Adobe Theater

Gala Hispanic Theater

New Jersey Repertory Company

Center Rep

Cara Mia Theater Company, Dallas, TX,

First Folio Theatre, Oak Brook, IL

Call these theatres, email them, buy tickets but PLEASE tell them you support women in theatre and you appreciate their efforts to present the works of women theatre artists.

Compiled by Vera Paulmann

2012/2013 GIRLCOTT LIST

2012-12-19T19:41:00.001-05:00

GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR! PRESENT

THE 2012/2013 GIRLCOTT LIST

These 59 theatres will not be producing a single play by a woman on their main stages for the 2012/13 season. Girlcott these theatres. Do not buy a ticket. Write/Call the Artistic Director and ask why they are not producing women playwrights. Let them know that sexism in theatre is unacceptable.

Actors Theatre of Louisville, Louisville, KY

Detroit Repertory Theater, Detroit MN

13th Street Repertory Company, NY

Astoria Performing Arts Center, NY

Actor's Theatre, Pheonix

Interact Theatre Company, Philadelphia, PA

Swine Palace, Baton Rouge, LA

Court Theatre Chicago, IL (no female directors either)

A.D. Players Houston, TX

Rep Stage Columbia, MD

Adventure Stage Chicago, IL

SF Playhouse, San Francisco

New Stage Theatre, Jackson, MS *

Seattle Shakespeare Company, WA *

Theater for a New Audience, NYC, NY *

Florida Studio Theatre, Sarasota, Florida *

Ford’s Theatre, Washington, DC * (female director either)

Connecticut Repertory Theater, Storrs, CT *

Book-It Repertory Theater, Seattle WA *

Texas Repertory Theater, Houston Texas *

SecondStory Repertory, Redmond WA *

California Repertory Company, Longbeach CA *

Mariemont Players, Cincinnati, OH *

Community Playhouse, Tullahoma TN *

Lucille Ball Theatre, Jamestown NY *

Workshop Theatre Company, NYC, NY

Jackson County Community Theatre, Brownston IN *

Raven Theater, Chicago IL * (but 3 of 4 plays directed by women)

Remy Bumppo, Chicago IL *

The House Theatre, Chicago IL *(also no female directors)

Hypocrites, Chicago IL *

Writers Theater, Chicago IL *

Clinton County Civic Theatre, Frankfort IN *

Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, FT. Wayne IN *(2 of 3 plays directed by women)

The Acting Company, New York NY * (no female directors either)

Marin Shakespeare Company, San Rafael CA *

Olney Theatre Center, Olney ND *

Pearl Theatre Company, New York NY * (no female director either)

Classic Stage Company, New York NY * (no female director either)

The Colony Theatre, Burbank CA *

Writer’s Theatre, Glencoe IL * (1/3rd of one musical by a woman)

Harrisburg Shakespeare Company, Harrisburg PA *

St. Michael’s Playhouse, Colchester VT *

Shakespeare Theatre Company, Washington DC *

Crede Repertory Theatre, Crede CO *

New Orleans Shakespeare Festival at Tulane, New Orleans LA *

Bristol Riverside Theatre, Bristol PA *

Guthrie Theatre (no female director either), Minneapolis MN *

Aurora Theatre, Lawrenceville GA *

American Repertory Theater, Cambridge MA *

Bickford Theatre, Morristown NJ *

Actor’s Shakespeare Project, Somerville, MA *

Lantern Theatre Company, Philadelphia, PA *

Long Wharf Theatre, New Haven, CT *

The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey, Madison, NJ *

Triad Stage, Greensboro, NC *

The Western Stage, Salinas, CA *

Williamstown Theatre Festival, Williamstown, MA *

American Blues Theatre, Chicago, IL *

* indicates multiple years on the Girlcott List

More bad news:

THIRTEEN theatres that were on the GOOD NEWS LIST last year
are now on the GIRLCOTT List!!!

The following theatres went from prouducing 50% or more plays by women
to producing NO plays by women on their mainstages:

Actors Theatre of Louisville, Detroit Repertory Theater, Pan Asian Repertory Theatre,
13th Street Repertory Company, Astoria Performing Arts Center, Actor's Theatre,
Interact Theatre Company, Swine Palace, Court Theatre, A.D. Players, Rep Stage,
Adventure Stage, SF Playhouse

Theatres from last year we were unable to verify:

Lofte Community Theater(no update for 2013)

Hangar Theater (no season information on their homepage)

Kaufman Civic County Theatre (no homepage found)

Commonwealth Classic Theatre Company (no concrete information on their homepage, only plans to produce complete works of William Shakespeare)

Peninsula Players (no update since October)

The Antaeus Company (only lists holiday event)

Southern Appalachian Repertory Theatre Mars Hill, NC (no update for 2013)

Organic Theater Chicago (Only lists holiday season)

11:11 Theatre Company Boston, MA (homepage does not work)

Telluride Repertory Theater Company Telluride, CO (no information about playwrights)

Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater Grand Lake, CO (no information for 2013)

Compiled by Vera Paulmann

LATE Reports from WPIC Sweden

2012-12-15T14:57:00.000-05:00

Guerrilla Girls On Tour's Fanny Mendelssohn and Josephine Baker report on our antics at the Women Playwrights International Conference last August in Stockholm!

Diary #1

Wednesday, August 15^th, 2012

We got on a plane last night, and this morning, when we got off, we were in Sweden! Our driver met us at the airport to take us to the hotel. We're staying at the Clarion, which is in a pretty great area of Stockholm. Although, I honestly can't complain about any area! It's absolutely beautiful here. After our drop off, we all passed out in our hotel rooms for a few hours. Man, jet lag is something awful!

This afternoon, we arrived at the Women Playwrights International Conference. All of the women are so beautiful and full of light and life! They were genuinely interested in finding out who we were. I'll be living as another woman for the next few days. It's going to be a strange week, being at a conference as a Guerrilla Girl On Tour, yet spending more time out of mask than in. And, all the while being Josephine Baker, but not myself. It's like a split personality!

In the evening, we attended the opening night ceremony. Being around all of those female theater artists was so empowering and inspiring! We all split up, and networked. I have to say, though, the highlight of the night was meeting Elizabeth Hess. She played the mother on one of my favorite childhood television shows, Clarissa Explains It All. I definitely cried like a big, stupid baby.

Diary #2

Thursday, August 16^th, 2012

This morning, we got up early so that we could grab good seats for the conference's key note speakers. We listened to the three Arab women, and their remarkable stories. Nidal Al Achkar, the founder & director of Al Madina Theatre in Beirut, was hilarious and brilliant. Mona Knio's refusal to be repressed in a male dominated world as a stage tech was an inspiration. Egyptian journalist Sondos Shabayek's stories of protests at Tahrir Square in Cairo, along with her upfront attitude were amazing. These women made me seriously question what Americans are being fed by the media regarding the plight of Arab women. All three were intelligent and strong. Free.

After the speakers, we were interviewed by a new feminist internet magazine. The questions were pretty straight forward, but that kind of thing is always exciting. It really makes me feel like a celebrity :). That night we saw, In the Lost and Found: Red Suitcase by Lana Nasser from Jordan. The show was very interesting and the movement pieces were beautiful.

Diary #3

Friday, August 17^th, 2012

Okay, so while Aphra and Fanny took their seminars, Ann and I played hooky and went SHOPPING! We couldn't help it! Stockholm is such a breathe taking city, and the day was beautiful. The stores were calling! LOL We met back up with the other girls at one, and had lunch. During lunch, the women at the conference started talking. We all planned to get together at five to march to the Free Pussy Riot rally. How exciting! We put on our masks, and walked to Mynttorget with the rest of the conference ladies (and men). Everyone was screaming and chanting, 'FREE PUSSY RIOT! FREE PUSSY RIOT!' It was so empowering! You can check out some highlights on You Tube!

The tour is almost over, and I'm having the time of my life. I don't want this experience to end :(.

Diary #4

Saturday, August 18^th, 2012

It's show day! I have to admit, I'm nervous. And I don't usually get nervous before shows. There's one part of the show that, for one reason or another, just won't stick in my brain. I pray that I don't screw it up. I'll keep ya posted!...

… Okay! The show went great! I mean, yeah, there were a few mistakes here and there, but overall, it was an awesome, energetic, hilarious, well-received performance! One of my favorites to date. I have to admit that after such a busy week, I was pretty exhausted. Before we went on, I chugged a Red Bull, and that gave me the proper amount of energy to make it through. I sang and danced with all of my might. And, when we got to the rape portion of the show, the part that kept me stumped, I just took a deep breathe, and it went fine. The audience was the best. They laughed when we needed them to; were sad at the proper places. Elizabeth Hess was in the front row! I couldn't have asked for a better night.

I will admit, I was a little disappointed during the Lesbian! Vagina! Feminist! song. I sang LLEEEEESBIAN! with, literally, everything I had in me. But, my section of the audience was very reluctant to sing along. I found it strange that that word would be difficult for so many women in such a liberal country.

Diary #5

Sunday, August 19^th, 2012

Today was our workshop day. Suffice it to say, we were all pretty exhausted from last night's extravaganza, yet we were excited to work with this brilliant group of women. We started with some really fun warm ups. I love working with theater people! They just got it. We didn't have to force it out of them. After warm ups, we introduced the task. They were to create an original piece of street theater. We all sat together and brainstormed. They came up with an array of topics. In the end, we narrowed it down to three. It was a piece about transsexual/gay/lesbian issues that really stood out to me. Their take on what is normal and what is natural shed an ironic and hilarious light on a controversial topic.

After each group had presented and reworked their skits, we took them outside into the square. They had a blast performing for the people. There were three little blonde kids playing in the fountain in the middle of the park, their parents watching from afar. One of the little girls climbed out, and stood behind the actors, fully enthralled. She even posed the way the normal/natural group suggested that a woman should! It was awesome!

Diary #6: Malmo!

Monday, August 20^th, 2012

This morning, Aphra and Anne left for home. In the evening, Fanny and I were scheduled to perform at The Malmo Festival. So, we hopped on a train, and when we stepped off we were in this amazing little beachy town. Malmo isn't as cosmopolitan as Stockholm, and the people come off as a bit more down to earth. Definitely my kind of town! We were greeted with open arms, and lectured to the perfect audience. We were preaching to the choir.

One man, who was in a wheelchair, asked what kind of work we performed for disabled women. It was a question that left Fanny and I a little stumped. We had never been asked that before, and I, quite honestly, had never considered it. I told the man that as activists, it's our mission to stop discrimination against all people, and that we would work on it. And as simply as that, we have our next topic! Onward and upward! It's been a fantastic tour, and I am EXHAUSTED. Until next time, diary.

Love,

Josephine Baker

Day 1: August 15^th, WPIC Stockholm

Our Swedish Guerrilla Adventure has begun! Aphra Behn, Anne Sexton, Josephine Baker and I arrived in sunny Stockholm this morning after a red-eye flight from New York, bright, bushy-tailed and ready to seize the day after a splendid night’s sleep at 30,000 feet. We even ran a few laps around the hotel, Usain Bolt- style, before loading our plates with pickled herring for breakfast!

Okay, maybe not so much on the Olympic running. (But there really was pickled herring for breakfast. I think. I was so tired that it’s all a little fuzzy.)

After a smorgasbord of napping and a little time to wander through the bright cobblestone Stockholm streets, we headed over to the Riksteatern, where the 9^th annual Women Playwrights International Conference will be held all week. It was exciting to check out the list of attendees who we’ll be communing with during seminars and performing for on Saturday. There are women playwrights from Lebanon, Australia, Canada, Chile, India, Estonia, South Africa, and just about everywhere in between.

In the evening, we headed over to the WPIC opening ceremony at Stockholm’s gleaming city hall (literally – the room we were in was covered in real gold mosaic tiles!). There was more pickled herring involved:

We spoke to women playwrights from all over the world and also learned some interesting facts about the Golden Hall, including the herstory of one particular mosaic piece on the wall:

This image depicts Queen of the Lake Malaren holding the city of Stockholm in her lap and reaching with both hands to connect Sweden to the East and West. When the image was first created, there was social backlash from nobility who thought the Queen looked too masculine – her eyes, feet, and hands too big and unfeminine. The artists responded by saying that she needed big hands to reach out to the global community; big eyes to be perceptive of her surroundings; and big feet to stand firmly with a strong foundation. Now that’s what I’m talkin’ about, Sweden! Grrr!!!

Day 2: August 16th, WPIC Stockholm

Our second day was filled with nourishment of the feminist, artistic, and pastry varieties.

First, a morning of WPIC keynote speeches on theatre in the Arab World from three remarkable women: Nidal Al Achkar, founder and director of the Al Madina Theatre in Beirut, Mona Knio, Lebanese theatre technician and University professor, and Sondos Shabayek, Egyptian journalist, director, and activist. Nidal stole the show with a luminous tenacity and sharp sense of humor; Mona was brave to admit that, being a technician, this was her first performance ever; and Sondos was youthful and direct in her stories of the 18 days on Tahrir Square in Cairo and creating the feminist theatre piece “The Pussy Monologues” in Egypt.

The three women differed in age, background, and discipline, but they were united on the mainstage at Riksteatern by their herstories of creating theatre in the face of political persecution and sexism. Sitting in the audience surrounded by women artists from all over the world, I could feel excited energy coming from all sides. More women from the U.S., Nigeria, the U.K., and other countries shared similar stories during the question and answer session, and the inspiration in the room could have exploded through the roof. There is nothing like commiserating, laughing, and learning in a room full of women artists who know what it’s like to have to struggle every day to make work. As an activist, it’s these rare moments of connection and unity that provide fuel for the fight. Nourishment!

In the afternoon, we took our hungry gorilla selves out for some prime Swedish pastries. There was a cinnamon roll (upstage), a vanilla crème bun (stage left), a bright pink berry thingum (stage right), and my favorite – the cardamom roll (down center). Oh yeah:

In the evening, we continued feeding our minds at the Dramalabbet with Lana Nasser’s solo performance, In the Lost and Found: The Red Suitcase, one of the featured events at WPIC. Lana is a Lebanese performer, and her piece explores the current sociopolitical climate in the Arab world (particularly as a woman) through deconstruction of language and beautiful movement involving just a scarf, a length of rope, and, naturally, a red suitcase.

After the performance, we headed back to Riksteatern for a late-night panel discussion on female representation onstage featuring theatre practitioners and activists from the U.K., Sweden, and Australia. We especially loved hearing from Van Badham, an Australian playwright and dramaturge who was fiercely intelligent, charismatic, and unrelenting in her critique of sexist theatre practices in Australia. As a Guerrilla Girl, we spend a lot of time mobilizing around the state of theatre for women in the United States, so it’s always exciting to get to think about the same issues internationally.

Day 3: August 17^th, WPIC Stockholm

This morning, GGOT split up to attend different WPIC seminars. I headed off to “Staging Gender,” which (in my book) really should have been called “SWEDEN IS THE BEST!”. The seminar was with a group of academics/activists/artists who took on a several-year, government-funded project examining how actor training in Swedish drama academies is gendered, and implementing workshops and other educational programs to challenge gendered norms in theatre training. The presentation included a short film, a stereotypical story about high school students, in which male actors playing the female roles and vice versa. It was done with a lot of nuance and care, and forced the audience to actually see the gender of the characters rather than take it as a given or ‘natural.’ And, the government funded all of this! It’s frustrating and inspiring to be reminded just how far the United States has to go in terms of tackling gender issues.

In the afternoon, our rehearsal plans were derailed, but not without good cause: today, three members of the Russian activist punk band Pussy Riot were sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred” for performing an anti-Putin song in a church. We did what any good Guerrilla Girls, or artists, or activists, or women, or anyone would do: joined the troops for a march and rally in protest through the streets of Stockholm. We marched through the winding, touristy streets of Gamla Stan (Stockholm’s Old City) chanting “free pussy riot!” along with our female playwright compadres from WPIC. We joined hundreds of other protesters outside of Sweden’s houses of Parliament for a rally with speeches, chants, and songs in Swedish and English. Now Guerrilla Girls On Tour are no stranger to protest, but it was so powerful and special to be with an international community of women playwrights when this decision was made, and to raise our voices as a unified, global front in favor of free speech, peaceful protest, feminism and the value of arts activism. This is what it means to be a Guerrilla Girl On Tour! This is what it means to be a feminist artist!

Fanny says FREE PUSSY RIOT!

Day 4: August 18^th, WPIC Stockholm

Performance day! Still inspired from yesterday’s protest, we headed over to the Dramalabbet (which, by the way, is the only theatre in Sweden that produces solely new work – woohoo!) first thing in the morning and set to work rehearsing and teching Feminists Are Funny: The WPIC Stockholm Edition!” We were able to sneak our tired selves out for a quick nap on the quiet and sun-drenched Riksteatern terrace after lunch, and then back to the theatre for more rehearsal!

Now, if anything, WPIC is about building community and getting those collaborative and supportive juices flowing among women playwrights from around the world. The WPIC women have been in this intense, inspiring incubator since we arrived on the 15^th, and that energy made them one of the best audiences I’ve ever performed for! The theatre was overflowing with women playwrights ready to laugh, sing, think, and talk back from the moment we hit the stage in our yellow jumpsuits, and they stayed with us ‘til the very end.

Some even stuck around to chat, hug, or have posters autographed after the show. My favorite reaction came from Elizabeth Hess, an American playwright who we all have connected with at the conference, who said “Wow – it’s so empowering to be funny!”. Yes! To laugh is to claim agency, and it makes activism feel good, and builds community, and breaks the ice. Her comment made me so proud to be able to spread GGOT-style fearless, funny feminism all around the world. Cheers to that, Stockholm! Here’s to women playwrights!

As if we needed any more adrenaline, as we were leaving Dramalabbet we literally ran into a joyous city-wide event: Stockholm’s annual midnight marathon, an all-night race through the city. Runners zipped by in the streets, and drunken revelers packed the sidewalks to cheer them on. It took us tired gorillas a little longer than expected to get back to our hotel (er, zoo), but it was fun to see the whole city out in the streets, celebrating one other. There is electric energy in the air tonight- everywhere!

The midnight runners, all in uniform blue t-shirts, go too fast for my shutter speed!

Day 5: August 19^th, WPIC Stockholm

No rest for these masked avengers! Anne, Aphra, Josephine, and I were up bright and early again this morning to finish off our Stockholm tour with our signature street theatre workshop. I couldn’t wait to see what political street theatre pieces our group of international feminist playwrights would come up with.

After warming up together (we stretched, we zip-zap-zopped, we ground it down, we ran around and made weird noises!), the group of about 30 conference guests got to brainstorming issues they wanted to make political street theatre about. This was particularly interesting since we had such an international group, and became a learning session about what issues matter in different parts of the world, and the different ways people talk about the problems. An Indian playwright clued us in to the phrase “Eve Teasing,” i.e. street harassment.

After brainstorming, the artists split into group to create pieces on sexism in theatre, notions of normality, abortion and reproductive rights, and more. They created some wildly creative performances, and I loved walking around the room while they were working and hearing snippets – “…choose love over hate!” “Be a NATURAL woman!”

Speaking of acting natural, one of the groups created a hilarious piece challenging societal norms of gender. They marched around the room chanting, “It’s NORMAL! it’s NATURAL!” and asked the audience to mold performers into “real” men and women.

When we ventured outside to perform these pieces in the street, a young (very blond!) Swedish girl couldn’t help but join their demented dance moves during the performance. It was great to see her bopping along to their rhythm, copying the moves they were making, and see that yes – we can change the way our kids think about gender if we’re brave enough to start thinking about it ourselves, all while being total goofs dancing around in the street. Feminists really ARE funny, folks!

Day 6: August 20^th, Malmofestivalen, Malmo

After bidding farewell to Aphra Behn and Anne Sexton this morning, Josephine Baker and I boarded the train for a relaxing 5-hour ride through beautiful Swedish countryside to Malmo, a southern beach city just 35 minutes from Copenhagen. Still sleepy-eyed on arrival, we were greeted by the bright, colorful energy of Malmofestivalen (that’s Malmo Festival, naturally), the week-long, city-wide, free, outdoor arts festival where will give a lecture on the history of GGOT (“Humor in the Service of Feminism”). When I say bright and colorful, I mean it – the whole center of the city is closed off to auto traffic for the festival, and most of the signs and landmarks (road signs, statues, fountains) are draped with knit covers that are totally wild and colorful. The city has been taken over by artists! What a great environment to inspire and be inspired.

Josephine and I were greeted by Pi, Elna, and the rest of the women of the Malmosfeministiska Natverk (Malmo Feminist Network), who hosted our lecture in a beautiful outdoor courtyard. The place was packed with Swedish feminists young and old, and our audience was energetic and responsive. One man even raised his hand in the middle of the lecture to ask us what we thought about Julian Assange. An appreciative audience always feels great, but an audience so eager to engage directly

is even better! We got great feedback after the lecture, and had some great banter with audience members. One man told me about the feminist parenting group he’s a part of, and asked for some recommendations of my favorite feminist plays (among others, I mentioned The Rover, by our very own Aphra Behn).

Josephine & Fanny with the Malmo Feminist Network post-lecture

Josephine and I toasted the end our successful, normal, natural, funny, feminist Sweden tour with celebratory drinks alongside our new Swedish feminist friends. Here’s to female playwrights, here’s to Swedish public policy for gender equality, here’s to pickled herring. Keep kickin’ butt, Sweden! See you again, I hope.

Love,
Fanny Mendelssohn

U Can't Touch This!

2012-11-07T08:29:00.000-05:00

I “VOTED” IN THE SWING STATE OF FLORIDA

2012-11-06T10:36:00.001-05:00

Last night on the news I saw Governor Cuomo announce that anyone displaced by Superstorm Sandy could vote via affidavit at ANY polling place in New York State. People in a federally declared disaster area should not be prevented from voting. Granted, he did not say that if you were displaced outside of New York you could vote but I thought I would give it a try. So I wrote a letter to the County of Manatee Supervisor of Elections, Bob Sweat, stating that I was a resident of a federal disaster area and that I would fill out a Florida provisional ballot and asked him if he would send my ballot to my New York City Board of Election. Then I took that letter along with copies of my ID and I went off to the polls.

I had done my research the night before. Even though Florida requires you to have a state issued photo ID you cannot be turned away from voting if you do not have an ID. Anyone without a Florida ID who requests a provisional ballot must be given one and be allowed to vote. These provisional votes are not counted until two days after the election and there is follow up – you are sent a letter stating if your vote counted or not.

The nearest poling place to where I am in Florida is at the clubhouse of a retirement community. When I walked in and asked for a provisional ballot the entire room, full of voting people and pollsters, got silent. I think I even heard a gasp as the sweet looking senior citizens around me frowned and one even shook his head in disgust. I was taken to a special table so that I could “tell my story” to the supervisor of the polling locale, Margaret.

After about 5 minutes of waiting, Margaret finally sat down across from me, a stern look on her face. I asked her for a provisional ballot. I told her I was from New York City. She said that she first had to place a phone call to see if it was OK.

When Margaret got on the phone I heard her say, “There’s a lady here from New York here who want’s a provisional ballot. Now I remember they told us at training that provisional ballots won’t count but that we should just give them out to make people happy. I’m just making sure that’s what I should do.” Yes, that is exactly what she said. Isn’t it great to hear that good old Florida voting laws are being carried out to the tee?

Margaret hung up the phone, came over, sat down and point blank told me my vote wouldn’t count so she wouldn’t take it. I insisted. She took me over to the voter registration machine and had me try to enter my information. Now I knew this wasn’t’ going to work – the Florida machine certainly would not accept a New York City address. I think she wanted to do this so that I would go away. But I had made it this far – heck, I survived Sandy – so I stood my ground.

After 10 minutes of trying to get the machine to accept “New York” as a city address in Florida I informed Margaret that I knew that Florida state law says that ANYONE who comes into a polling place without an ID must be given a provisional ballot. She turned her eyes on me and a stare-down ensued. Gotcha, Margie! You’re the supervisor and I know you know that!

Margaret told me to sit down again and got back on the phone. After 5 minutes (she claimed she was talking to Bob Sweat, supervisor of elections himself) she came back. “OK, she said, I’ll let you fill out a provisional ballot. But it’s not going to count!”

She gave me a pink envelope and asked me to fill out my name, address, etc. There was a section for voter comments and I put down “displaced voter from federal disaster area New York City”. She then gave me a paper ballot. I carefully filled in the oval next to OBAMA/BIDEN. Margaret was now about 5 feet from where I was sitting. She called out in a LOUD voice so that everyone in the place could hear, “Now fold and put your ballot in the secret folder!” There was a white folder in front of me marked “Secret”. I did as she instructed and slipped in the letter I had written to Bob Sweat as well as copies of my NY State Drivers license and other photo ID that I had copied. She then said “Put the secret folder inside the pink envelope and seal it.” I did and she gave me the receipt off the envelope, which had a number on it. Then she walked me over to a black lock box, unlocked the box and slipped the envelope inside.

“Thank you so much, Margaret”, I oozed. “Oh”, she replied, “don’t forget your I Voted sticker” and handed me a sticker with an American flag on it.

I slapped that sticker on my chest and marched out.

Now I think I’ll write a letter to Governor Cuomo and let him know that Bob Sweat has my vote and that he should call him up and demand that it be sent to New York City.

-Aphra “I Voted” Behn

My Absentee Ballot Swallowed by Superstorm Sandy

2012-11-05T22:33:00.002-05:00

I am a registered voter in New York State and tomorrow I will not vote.

For the second time in my life my absentee ballot has not arrived in the mail in time for me to vote.

For the second time in my life I will spend Election Day not exercising my right as a US citizen because of the US mail.

The first time this happened to me was in 1992 during Clinton vs. Bush vs. Perot. I was in California. My absentee ballot arrived the day after Clinton won.

I am currently in Florida and I spent today waiting for the mail. Absentee ballots must be postmarked by the day before the election (today) in order to be counted. Because of Hurricane Sandy absentee ballots don’t have to arrive back in New York until 13 days after the election BUT they must be postmarked by today. The special hurricane extention means squat because it’s obvious that what us NYers need is an extention on the postmark date.

I did all the right things. I applied for an absentee ballot weeks in advance. But Sandy knocked out lower Manhattan and my Board of Elections is on Varick Street. The mail stopped in New York for three days entire days and was slowed down for another 7. My absentee ballot is probably floating down the Hudson right now.

It was the right call to cancel the marathon. But what about the election? How are those without gas, food, homes going to vote?

Today I called the Manhattan Board of Elections and was put on hold for 45 minutes. I finally got through 4 minutes before they closed. A very nice but obviously exhausted election employee told me that I was his last call and that, unfortunately, he didn’t work in the absentee section. He looked up my name and confirmed that nope, no absentee ballot application from me had been received. There was nothing he could do.

I started to cry. I told him I was an activist and that I had spent 16 years of my life in a rubber gorilla mask touring the US and trying to inspire people to vote. I was going to be pissed if I couldn’t vote for Obama.

“I can’t discuss politics” he replied. All he could do was suggest that I go to a local board of elections in Florida and demand to submit a presidential ballot. Apparently in New York State you can demand to vote during a presidential election if you can prove that it’s an emergency and you can’t vote anywhere else.

Thanks, I’ll try that, I grunted.

And then he broke his own rule. “I’m voting for Romney,” he said.

I wanted to kill him.

Tomorrow I won’t be voting. But I will be thinking of that guy manning the phones at the Manhattan Board of Elections.

Don’t think for a second that your vote won’t count or that one vote doesn’t matter.

Get out and vote.

-Aphra Behn

The Campaign Saga of Racism

2012-10-30T12:42:00.001-04:00

An excellent blog post by Dianne Liuzzi Hagan:

Hurricane Sandy and the Campaign Saga of Racism

http://aboutracewriter.blogspot.com/2012/10/hurricane-sandy-and-campaign-saga-of.html?spref=fb

We Came! We Saw! We Threw Bananas! WE WERE THEATRE!

2012-10-04T18:24:00.000-04:00

Check out Aphra Behn's guest blog post on the Women and Hollywood blog:

http://blogs.indiewire.com/womenandhollywood/guest-post-we-came-we-saw-we-threw-bananas-we-were-theatre

PHOTOS of WE ARE THEATRE by Miriam Berkley

Dana Berger performs "Who’s The Man" by Mary Steelsmith

Alysia Reiner performs "Chopping Cabbage" by Sophia Romma

Yvette X performs her own "Bridge to Baraka"

Drae Campbell in "A Rejection in Full" by Mila Golubuv

Gael Schaefer performs "She" by Caridad Svich

Honor Molloy performs her own work "Not Published, Not Produced"

Annie-Sage Whitehurst performs "I Am Estonia" by Jyl Lynn Felman

Sarah M. Duncan performs her own "PSA"

Taifa Harris performs Theresa Rebeck's "Why Can't We Do That In The Theatre?"

Guerrilla Girl On Tour Anne Sexton as Machoswine in "Oh, the joys of being a woman playwright"

WE ARE THEATRE CURTAIN CALL

ACTION CALL - BLITZ THE ROUNDABOUT THEATRE!

2012-09-23T13:47:00.001-04:00

WE ARE THEATRE ACTION CALL:

BLITZ THE ROUNDABOUT!

The Roundabout Theatre has announced their 2012/2013 mainstage season - a season that contains ZERO plays by women and ZERO female directors. Artistic Director Todd Haimes recently wrote on the Roundabout blog: It is very exciting to put together a season with such variety...and consistently offers the audience the kind of enduring themes and stories that have come to define Roundabout.

http://www.myroundaboutblog.com/?p=6920

INUNDATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR TODD HAIMES WITH messages, faxes, stickers and tweets telling him what you think about his ALL WHITE MALE MAINSTAGE SEASON

CALL (212) 719-9393 ext 311

FAX (212) 869-8817

Fe-MAIL artisticoffice@roundabouttheatre.org

AND/OR info@roundabouttheatre.org

STICKER THE TOILET STALLS: Be a volunteer USHER (aka undercover WE ARE THEATRE agent) for the Roundabout

call their VOLUNTEER HOTLINE:

(212) 719-9393, ext. 523

DOWNLOAD STICKERS HERE:

http://guerrillagirlsontour.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Inthistheatresticker.pdf

TWEET IT NOW! mention the Roundabout @RTC_NYC and We Are Theatre @OccupyBroadway

Tomorrow night at 7PM women will occupy The Cherry Lane. We will write, direct, act, design, promote, manage and produce theatre. We are theatre.

See you there or watch it live http://www.livestream.com/ggontour

5 days to the end of discrimination in theatre!

2012-09-18T07:06:00.000-04:00

FOR ONE NIGHT ONLY

Guerrilla Girls On Tour! will come out of the jungle, go into the Cherry Lane Theatre and stand up for gender equality.

WE ARE THEATRE

An evening of kick ass plays by Tiffany Antone, Brooke Berman, Kate Bornstein, Lynne S. Brandon, EllaRose Chary, Paula Cizmar, Sarah Duncan, Jyl Lyyn Felman, Lauren Ferebee, Dominique Fishback, Mila Golubov, Elizabeth Hess, Yvette Heyliger, Velina Hasu Houston, Penny Jackson, Erato A. Kremmyda, Andrea Lepcio, Marianne McDonald, Irina Merkina, Honor Molloy, Brighde Mullins , Vince Peterson, Sophia Romma, Laura Shamas, Mary Steelsmith, Caridad Svich, Kathleen Warnock, Sheilah Rae, Theresa Rebeck, Thelma Virata de Castro, Shay Youngblood and Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

WHEN: September 24, 2012 @ 7PM WHERE: The Cherry Lane Theatre 38

Commerce Street, New York City

WHAT: A theatrical Happening that will cause more plays by women to Happen

TICKETS: $20 general admission, $12 students and seniors. - for half price tickets use the code WAT 10

FOR TICKETS CLICK HERE: https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/916365

OR HERE: http://www.broadwaybox.com/shows/we_are_theatre_nyc_tickets.aspx

WATCH LIVE – WE ARE THEATRE WILL BE STREAMED LIVE: http://www.livestream.com/ggontour

DRESS: ANYTHING YELLOW

DONATE: to the cause: http://www.indiegogo.com/WeAreTheatre

MEDIA REQUESTS: Contact Meredith Rich at meredithrich@earthlink.net

www.facebook.com/WeAreTheatre @OccupyBroadway

www.ggontour.com

WE ARE THEATRE PRODUCERS: Guerrilla Girls On Tour! with 50/50 in 2020, the Women's Initiative members of the Dramatists Guild and the Belladonna Series

WE ARE THEATRE CO-SPONSORS: Women's Project Theatre, LA Female Playwrights Initiative, WET Productions, The Feminist Spectator, The Shirley Chisholm Project of Brooklyn Women's Activism, Project Girl Performance Collective, Hollaback!, Hedgebrook, LIVE GIRLS Theatre, Judith Shakespeare, Bella Abzug Leadership Institute, New Perspectives Theatre Company, The Queens Company, The Negro Ensemble Company, Guerrilla Girls Broad Band, Little Black Dress INK, Looking for Lilith, Women at Work Festival, The Bella Abzug Leadership Institute and Agent 160 Theatre.

On September 24 sexism in theatre will end forever

2012-09-10T06:52:00.004-04:00

REPORTS FROM STOCKHOLM and WPIC 2012

2012-08-28T21:02:00.000-04:00

SKOAL!

As often as we can, Guerrilla Girls On Tour! tries to bring together badass feminists and women artists to celebrate their talent and create solidarity. Well, the Women Playwrights International Conference hosted by Riksteatern, the national touring company of Sweden, did this in a big, wonderful and global way! We toured to Stockholm in August of 2012 to participate and perform at WPIC 2012.

Day 1: We're HEEERE!

Bleary-eyed and drunk (figuratively, much to my disappointment, airlines always had the gin and tonics flowing when I traveled around for my poetry tour in the 1960s) from an international flight, the Girls - Aphra Behn, Fanny Mendelssohn, Josephine Baker and myself checked into our ultra-chic Swedish hotel in the south of Stockholm. Then we headed up to the Sodra Teatern, the beautiful venue right on the water, where the conference was being held to sign-up for all the fabulous lectures, workshops, readings and performances we wanted to see over the course of the week. Nothing could prepare us for the illustrious, fancy opening ceremony to come - Stockholm's City Hall, with gold-gilded walls, beautiful mosaic painting and stately terraces.

With women playwrights from Afghanistan

We tried to imagine what it must be like to receive a Nobel Prize in the room where they were handed out. Women don't receive those very often, and Guerrillas... well the odds aren't great, but one can dream!

Elizabeth Blackburn - Nobel Prize winner!

WPI, a fabulous organization: Women Playwrights International, hosts these conferences and themed the Stockholm Conference "The Democratic Stage". We invite all of you to look up this organization and take part! http://www.wpinternational.net/

Here's a debriefing:

WPI is a non-profit and non-governmental organization dedicated to facilitating communications, meetings, interchanges, and activities among the international community of women in theatre. This is done mainly through maintaining ongoing international Women Playwrights Conferences every three years at different locations in the world. The mission of WPI is to further the work of women playwrights around the world by promoting their works, encouraging and assisting the development of their works and bringing international recognition to their works. ”Women Playwrights” shall be understood to include all women working in the theatre of all races, classes, ages, ethnic or religious background, sexual preferences, and women with disabilities.

The six goals of WPI are:

• To extend opportunities for meeting, international networking and artistic exchange

• To increase and further production opportunities for women’s writing for the stage

• To encourage, create and assist the education and development of women playwrights and their craft

• To defend the right of women playwrights to engender their own artistic forms and critical standards

• To encourage study and informed critique of the work of women playwrights

• To support women playwrights against censorship and political persecution for the expression of their ideas

The first conference was held in Buffalo, USA in 1988. It gathered more than 200 women from 30 countries around the world. The second conference, in 1991, was held in Toronto, Canada, followed by Adelaide, Australia 1994, Galway, Ireland 1997, Athens and Delphi, Greece 2000, Manila, Philippines 2003, Jakarta and Bali, Indonesia 2006, and Mumbai, India 2009. Of course there's Stockholm, Sweden in 2012 and you'll want to take part in the 2015 conference -- it's in South Africa!!

Day 2: Conference or Buuuuust.

On our second day we attended a smorgasbord of keynote speeches focused on the Arab world with Nidal Al Achkar, founder & director of Al Madina Theatre in Beirut and most charismatic women known to walk the planet, Mona Knio, Chair, Department of Communication Arts at The Lebanese American University...

Nidal Al Achkar of Al Madina Theatre

...and last, but not least, the young and fearless Sondos Shabayek, Egyptian journalist, dramatist, director and activist, who told us about her experience taking part in the protesters at Tahrir Square in Cairo. Sondos gathered stories of several protestors in Cairo and compiled them into a theatre piece called The Tahrir Monologues, stories from the revolution. (www.tahrirmonologues.com)

Sondos Shabayek talks about protesting in Tahrir Square in Cairo

The inspiring day of Arab feminists was completed with the Scandinavian première In the Lost and Found: Red Suitcase, written, directed, and performed by Lana Nasser from Jordan, winner of last year's Etel Adnan Award, a three-part award for an emerging Arab playwright presented by WPI and Nidal Al Achkar, who gives each winner a week run in her cutting-edge theatre in Beirut, the Al Madina Theatre (www.almadinatheatre.com).

My spirit was lifted by all these strong, confident and liberated Arab women who were expressing themselves through theatre and refusing to be shutdown by any political, social or gender-based prejudices. They were mentoring and inspiring each other, and in turn, everyone at the conference. They definitely struck a deep chord with me and I couldn't help thinking about the disparity in the United States. We have no real support system of strong women theatre artists to mentor and help younger theatre artists. Women who have succeeded in winning leadership positions in theatre around the US and the world should make it a top priority to mentor younger women, and be active! We may consider ourselves more developed than the Arab world, but our apathy sets us back decades. As Josephine Baker so aptly put it in our show, "The fight for gender equality never takes a day off!”

Day 3: Free Pussy Riot!

The perpetual summer sun was shining in Stockholm city as the conference was in full swing. Feast your feminist eyes on these seminars/workshops: Women and Creating: Rights and Possibilities, What does Red Riding Hood carry in her basket?, Mapping yourself, Do you feel understood? Young Women Playwrights around the Baltic Sea were just some of the fabulous workshops taught by women from all around the world.

The women, along with all of us GGOTs were shocked when three members of the Russian feminist activist group, Pussy Riot, were charged with “hooliganism” and sentenced to two years in jail for speaking up against Putin. It is shocking and appalling that in 2012, such a monstrosity and disregard for free speech is happening to our Baltic sisters! GGOTs and the other women at the conference marched through the Old City and gathered at the main square and joined in on a global protest with speeches, songs and chants.

What an awesome way to spend the day! I have to say we Girls get some strange looks in our wigs and gorilla masks, but never so much as when we were marching through Stockholm chanting “Free Pussy Riot!” J

With badass feminist playwright Van Badham from Australia

Day 4: The Day of the Show, Ya’ll.

Backstage at Dramalabbet

The excitement for our show, Feminists Are Funny, had been mounting all week and we wanted to do our very best, high-energy, madcap feminist mayhem kind of show for all the ladies at the conference. Talk about feminist rock stars! We were totally impressed with all these theatre artists and set the bar very high – we were pounding bananas like no tomorrow.

And we needed the potassium, because the amazing energy in the Dramalabbet where we performed was intense! These women were fantastic! Clapping, cheering and talking back – “Ladies and Gentlemen, THIS is what a true feminist looks like!”

We had a tremendous night. Thank you to WPI for having us Girls, and a special shout out to all the incredible women we met who are kicking theatre butt around the globe.

Day 5: Normal, Natural.

Our last day of the conference was our Street Theatre workshop! We had about 25 participants and they were burning to add their issues to the idea board for potential street theatre pieces.

Issues!

My favorite was the “Normal, Natural” group who used the 16-count movement sequence we gave them as a way to create the ideal “normal, natural” heterosexual couple. Hilarity ensued. Adorable Swedish girls playing in the fountain outside the theatre stopped to clap along and watch and you couldn’t help but hope that a little bit of the message floated into their sponge-like brains.

Normal/natural Street theatre!

We really did have a mini Feminist UN, with groups from Sweden, the UK, Jamaica, Estonia, India, the US and more coming together to collaborate on universal issues. It may be expressed in a different ways, but I hope the ladies involved saw how similar their struggle as feminist theatre artists was.

Not too long after, Aphra and I left on a jetplane while Josephine and Fanny continued on to Malmo, Sweden and the rest as they say, is Feminist History!

Keepin’ it Normal and Natural (whatever that means!),

xoxo

Anne Sexton

We Are Theatre SPEAK OUT tickets now on sale

2012-08-14T01:02:00.001-04:00

AUGUST 15, 2012: TICKETS ON SALE FOR WE ARE THEATRE

at the CHERRY LANE THEATRE NEW YORK CITY

Guerrilla Girls on Tour!, along with 50/50 in 2020 and the Women’s Initiative members of the Dramatists Guild, is presenting a speak-out on the evening of September 24^th at the Cherry Lane Theater, located in New York City’s Greenwich Village and entitled WE ARE THEATRE.

WE ARE THEATRE intends to drive home the blatant lack of parity for women playwrights (less than 20% of all plays produced in the U.S. are written by women) by presenting a series of specially commissioned monologues, skits, songs, and scenes about sexism in the theatre. These short works have been written by just a handful of the thousands of women theatre artists who continue to persevere in the tradition of creating superior, innovative American theatre.

Works by Theresa Rebeck, Brooke Berman, Kate Bornstein, Thelma Virata de Castro, and Shay Youngblood will be among the 24 writers whose work will receive staged readings at WE ARE THEATRE. WE ARE THEATRE is supported by Gloria Steinem and co-sponsored by the Women’s Project and Productions, Hollaback!, Hedgebrook and LA Female Playwrights Initiative to name a few of the national organizations involved.

WE ARE THEATRE begins at 7PM. Tickets are available at the Cherry Lane box office as of August 15th, and are priced at $20 for general admission and $12 for seniors and students. For tickets:

https://web.ovationtix.com/trs/pr/916365

For more info visit http://www.facebook.com/WeAreTheatre.

@OccupyBroadway

2012-07-07T10:24:00.000-04:00

SUMMER 2012

Feminists Are Funny

at the 9th Women's

Playwrights International

Conference in Stockholm

This summer we are proud to be touring to Sweden for the first time - performing a special edition of  Feminists Are Funny at the 9th Women's Playwrights International Festival in Stockholm on August 18th.  The National Theatre of Sweden - Riksteatern - is the  host of the Conference and the theme this year is the  democratic stage. Will we see you in Stockholm?  It's a great opportunity to meet women in theatre, build  networks and create genuine, lasting contacts between  like-minded women playwrights from around the world.  For more info visit the conference website:  http://wpic.riksteatern.se/

SAVE THE DATE:

WE ARE THEATRE

SPEAK-OUT

Protest sexism in theatre September 24th at the

Cherry Lane Theatre in NYC

What do Theresa Rebeck, Kate Bornstein, Shay Youngblood, Brighde Mullins, Caridad Svich, Andrea Lepcio, Honor Molloy, Kathleen Warnock, Laura Shamas, Penny Jackson, Paula Cizmar and Velina Hasu Houston have in common? Their short plays are featured in WE ARE THEATRE - a speak out about the lack of parity for women playwrights. Organized by Guerrilla Girls On Tour!, 50/50 in 2020 and the Women’s Initiative members of the Dramatists Guild, WE ARE THEATRE is an afternoon of monologues, skits, songs and scenes addressing sexism in theatre. By raising our theatrical voices we will advocate on behalf of the millions of women theatre artists around the globe via and take steps towards a day when gender parity in the performing arts will be the status quo.

For updates re tickets for WE ARE THEATREfollow our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/WeAreTheatre

SUMMER FUN!

2012-06-01T16:54:00.001-04:00

Western lowland gorillas, known for their expressiveness and intelligence, spend most of their time on the ground, foraging in communities of up to 30 individuals (and proving feminists are funny).

COMING SOON: Our summer newsletter with info about our performance at the Women Playwrights International Conference in Stockholm in August. SIGN UP HERE:

GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR NEWSLETTER

This is what a feminist looks like!

2012-05-06T18:38:00.000-04:00

April 19, 2012

This mask makes me Isadorable

We had a adventurous tour to Old Dominion University. It began with an exciting flight to Norfolk. After a hiccup on the runway, the plane needed a “reboot” - the pilot explained it was just like ctr-alt-delete for us PC users. As you can imagine, we were all a bit worried. However once in the air, the flight went smoothly and we soon found ourselves in the green and lush state of Virginia.

For the first time ever – everyone in the audience at ODU got a banana! But they deserved it - what great and supportive audience showed up for “Silence is Violence”. Thanks to all for taking the night off from your studies to spend the evening with us. We had the pleasure of working with ODU student, Josh, who volunteered to jump into the action of our show without looking back. Josh, you are a fabulous improviser. I loved your genuine and earnest responses during the improvs. Your enthusiasm and energy certainly gave us the extra boost we to fight violence against women. To show you what I mean, here's one improv we did called "tongue twisters". That's me and Cena watching a football game with Josh as our frat bro.

Thanks to those who stayed after the show to chat with us, take photos and have your posters signed. It’s wonderful to hear the stories from the trenches of the hard working feminists we meet everywhere we go.

Before we left Norfolk, we got a chance to explore their lovely

Norfolk Botanical Garden. We saw enchanted forests, colorful butterflies, and baby bald eagles in a nest high in the sky. It was beautiful place and a great way to spend out last few hours in town.

Thanks for a great last tour of our 2011/12 season. Until next time.

Peace and love,

Isadora Duncan

More Monkey Business at ODU!

2012-05-01T13:58:00.000-04:00

Azucena Villaflot comin at ya!

Darling Journal,

Yee haw! What an action packed pair of days! I met up with the girls in the wee hours of the morn, ready to jet-set down south. Well, we may have been ready but the jet had a bit of trouble getting started. Not to worry – all it needed to do was “power down”! Apparently, planes function similarly to laptops these days. Who knew? After only a brief moment of feeling the need to call my mother and tell her I loved her, all was well and we were taxing down the runway. Of course I did what I always do on airplanes. Sleep with my mouth open. Before I knew it we were in Norfolk (which I still can’t pronounce without making it sound like a dirty word).

Isadora Duncan, Me, Bea Arthur

Virginia is very green – a lovely change from New York City grey. We made our way from the airport and checked into the hotel where everyone felt compelled to say “Hello, how are you?” Fascinating. Next, we skipped over to Old Dominion University! Whoo hoo! Rehearsals went smoothly, especially after Josh showed up to save us when our student volunteer suddenly remembered she had a class! Now I’ve heard ‘em all. But we lucked out with Josh -- one of the most enthusiastic volunteers I have ever seen. Thank you Josh! You rock (and are now a permanent Baboon Boy member of the GGOT’s.

BABOON BOY BEATS CHEST - JOSH!

The show (Silence is Violence) was a blast! Even though the audience numbers may have been small, they were fierce. Just another example of how size doesn’t mean a darn thing!

The girls had a delicious post-show outing where I was able to try my first “Norfolk Nojito”! Similar to a Mojito except you get to put some muscle into it and mull your own mint right at the table! After this long day, we all did like trees and slept like logs (mouth closed this time). The following morning was spent at the beautiful Norfolk Botanical Gardens. Here we witnessed turtles, butterflies, trams full of children, and more trees! What a lovely way to say goodbye to this fair state.

Can’t wait for the next Guerrilla Girls On Tour Adventure!

Hugs and kisses,

Azucena Villaflor

OLD DOMINION UNIVERSITY

2012-04-26T17:03:00.001-04:00

L to R Isadora Duncan, Azucena Villaflor and Bea Arthur

April 18, 2012

Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA:

Dear Diary,

What a whirlwind tour to the South! We left the jungle of New York City in the early morning and got off the banana boat that afternoon to perform “Silence is Violence” at Old Dominion University. The theme of Old Dominion, we decided, was “labyrinth” judging by how massive the campus, buildings and dining options were. Whew! Thank goodness for military escorts.

Gretchen, from the campus Women's Center, welcomed us and provided us with space to rehearse and enjoy our Quiznos. There was still a lot of activity on campus, especially given that classes wrap up in only a week. After our rehearsal (and subs) we made our way to the venue for that evenings performance. “Silence is Violence” involves a lot of improvisation of different scenes which highlight options for protecting yourself in dating/social situations but also some great examples of how to be an active bystander. For several of these scenes, we work with a student volunteer to act them out with us. We were very lucky to have the creative, enthusiastic Josh joining us on the stage. His improv was off-the-cuff, authentic AND really funny!

Me, Bea!

Once show time rolled around, we were introduced by our host, Joanne, from the Women's Center who is doing some great work to highlight April as Sexual Assault Awareness month. Our audience was moderately sized but big on appreciation. I always enjoy the diversity of our audiences: women, men, college-aged (and sometimes younger) through the 70-somethings. In this crowd, we not only had students and professionals from the college, but also folks who work at the YWCA, the local women's resource center. They appreciated that we shared important statistics on sexual assault while at the same time having lots to laugh about in our show-stopping numbers. Our improvised scenes were the hit of the night and Josh more than rose to the occasion, engaging the crowd both in the scenarios during the show and after the show when hocking our t-shirts and posters. Thanks, man!

THE FABULOUS JOSH

And thank YOU, Old Dominion University!

Anchors Aweigh!!- Bea

NEBRASKA!

2012-03-25T19:05:00.010-04:00

How much do I LOVE touring to RED STATES? Let me count the ways:

1) The people come out in droves…they drive from cities and towns hours and hours away because they support feminism and want to show that there are feminists everywhere – even in conservative red states.

2) You get to see landscapes (corn fields) and wildlife (horses) that you don’t see walking down 2^nd Avenue.

3) People talk A LOT during the Q and A’s after our performances

4) People talk A LOT during “Announcements from the Audience” and tell us about cool events like the WOMAN HOUSE project at UNL Lincoln.

5) Our student volunteer picks the name of a dead woman artist we’ve never heard of before i.e. Elmira “Buffalo Bone” Jackson. Check her out: http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/A-Spectacular-Collection-of-Native-American-Quilts.html

6) The car rental place gives you a Lincoln Town Car because you are in Lincoln, NE.

Edith Evans and sculpture at Sheldon Museum of Art

Guerrilla Girls On Tour! made their very first visit to Nebraska today – Bea Arthur, Edith Evans and myself, Aphra Behn, were thrilled to fly to Omaha and drive to Lincoln in our Lincoln. What a tank!

We performed “Feminists Are Funny, the Corn Huskers edition” to a sold out audience at the Sheldon Museum of Art on the UNL campus. The UNL campus sits smack in the middle of Lincoln so the campus is fully integrated into the city. After a fantastic introduction by museum director Jorge Daniel Veneciano, we hit the stage and didn’t come up for air until the standing ovation. Yes, Corn Huskers rocked the house and were the most amazing audience we’ve had this season – thank you, thank you for being so vocal, so with it and so much a part of our show. We pride ourselves in the audience participation parts of “Feminists Are Funny” and you did not disappoint. We cannot wait to return.

Monkey Love,

Aphra Behn

March 12, 2012

National Hug A Cornhusker DAY!

2012-03-18T20:21:00.020-04:00

With Edith Evans in front of the Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, NE!

March 12, 2012

University of Nebraska at Lincoln,

A love letter to the jewel of the Midwest:

“From the East coast to the West (and in the center of the Heartland!), Women are the best” and so are the audiences that support them in Lincoln, Nebraska! Guerrilla Girls On Tour! continued our 2012 rock star status in the heart of the Midwest. Listen up, New York... Nebraska supports equality for women in the arts and you should too!

We were welcomed with barrels of bananas (and Trader Joes treats) at UNL by Victoria Hoyt, fabulous MFA student, feminist and artist extraordinaire. The day of our show was as warm and sunny as the disposition of the Midwesterners we met in the Hy-Vee supermarket. We frolicked around UNL's lovely campus, embracing opportunities to pose for pictures with cheeky public art works and chewed on reeds of Nebraska straw like the nearby farmers. Oh Lincoln, NE -- with your football stadium that could house the population of 3 states, your surprisingly good statistics for women-directed theater and your legacy of Johnny Carson -- we love you! But I’m getting ahead of myself. We were honored to perform in the beautiful Abbot Theater, which is part of the Sheldon Museum of Art and we were supported by a meticulous tech staff AKA Donny and Jack (thanks guys!).

We ran through our tech smoothly and retired to our backstage area and low and behold we began to hear the enthusiastic yelps of the standing-room-only crowd gathered in the house. Aphra accidentally locked us our of the stage by clicking the stage door shut and we had to call Victoria on her cell to rescue us. I’m blaming it on her mask being too tight.) Anyway, Jack came to our rescue and we were able to hear the flattering introduction we were given by Jorge Daniel Veneciano, the museum director, before taking the stage. The show began and the crowd was electric! Let's just say that we weren't the only ones casting off bras, slips and girdles in the opening number... The crowd thoroughly enjoyed the show, participated whole-heartedly, taking the opportunity to announce many productions, lectures and art openings on campus and in the area. The audience was diverse with many college students, but also parents with children, local theater artists and supporters like the retired farmer we met who is a member of NOW. We were further inspired by Alisha, our student volunteer, who lent to us her talents for the last sketch and song. She also educated us about a Native American female artist who created quilts, named Elmira “Buffalo Bone” Jackson. I am contemplating dropping “Bea” and going by “Buffalo Bone” to give me more street cred but that's not really fair to Alisha so maybe I'll just rock a leather tunic style top.

Me and a sculpture by Tom Otterness at Sheldon Museum of Art

That's more in character for me. Thanks cornhuskers of Lincoln, for making us feel quite at home in your RED state!

xx-Bea Arthur

Mansfield University, PA tour diary

2012-03-14T11:55:00.009-04:00

March 5, 2012

Dear Diary,

Sheep and kittens and feminists, Oh my! It is so exciting to find all these things in Mansfield, Pennsylvania.

“Feminist are Funny: the Mansfield University Edition” was a hit and it was great to feel the audience become energized by funny feminists. In fact, the audience took over the show during our new song “Our Words” as they roared “lesbian”, “vagina”, and “feminist” with such enthusiasm that I bet it could be heard clear across campus. Way to reclaim some female words, Mansfield University!

Isadora Duncan, backstage at Mansfield, U!

After the show it was great to talk to some of the women of Mansfield who fight for equality on campus and beyond. From the female editors of the newspaper to people who work with HAVEN and REACT helping to end violence against women we were glad to hear that fighting sexism is taking many different forms in Mansfield. Thanks, gals, for taking some of our posters with you!

And now for the Isadorable part of the visit...

View from our rooms at the Arvgarden B and B

It was a joy to stay at the Arvgarden where we meet a barn full of sheep and cats. These sheep had spunk and will need it, for they will be giving birth to baby lambs in the weeks ahead (raised for their wool).

Isadora Duncan and Bea Arthur with lambs

It was also great to talk with innkeepers Hilma and Keith about spinning yarn, weaving, and the local history of northern Pennsylvania. We even got to hear about Hilma’s great great grandmother who kept a detailed diary of her life, family, and farming. She reminded me of the importance of keeping a diary like this one for GGOT.

Peace Out,

Isadora Duncan

Dear Diary,

You think Guerrillas are crazy? Try a night in the Pennsylvania countryside with a flock of sheep and some feminists from Mansfield University...Those sheep will run you ragged!

We had quite an adventurous time over in Mansfield, PA with the enthusiastic crowd that assembled for “Feminists Are Funny”. After traveling over hill and dale and even enlisting a Sherpa guide at one point (a long story...) we reached the beautiful Tioga county, where Mansfield University is smack dab in the middle, with a campus carved out of a mountainside. As we ascended campus to the theater building, I was reminded of visiting the island of Delos in Greece and ascending high above the ruins of the ancient town to the temple of the highest honor: the theater! This was a good sign for Mansfield, I thought. It was a good omen and we enjoyed a great audience with enthusiastic feminists, many of whom happened to be young men, who laughed AND asked questions. Thanks to our brothers in solidarity! My only disappointment in our Mansfield University show was the apparent lack of women-supportive activities on campus, especially in March of all times, when it's supposed to be Women's History Month. I was relieved somewhat at the end of show to hear about women's centers in the area and a plea from a lone female on the boxing club for other women to join. How bad-ass is that? She should have a bunch of women join up now. Maybe they can box in Guerrilla Girls on Tour! masks like the wrestlers in Mexico!

xx- Bea Arthur