ANNUAL GIRLCOTT LIST - Do not buy a ticket to these theatres

GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR PRESENT

THE 2010/2011 GIRLCOTT LIST

These theatres will not be producing a single play by a woman

on their main stages for the 2010/11 season.

The New Group, New York, NY**

American Folklore Theatre, Fish Creek, WI**

Full Circle Theatre Company, Jersey City, NJ**

Park Players, Birmingham, AL**

Profile Theater Project, Portland, OR**

New Stage Theatre, Jackson, MS**

Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Chicago, IL**

A Noise Within Glendale, CA**

Seattle Shakespeare Company, Seattle, WA**

Great Lakes Theatre Festival, Cleveland, OH**

Theater for a New Audience, New York, NY**

American Conservatory Theater, San Francisco, CA**

Delaware Theatre Company, Wilmington, DE

Florida Studio Theatre, Sarasota, FL

Ford’s Theatre, Washington, DC*

Hartford Stage Company, Hartford, CT

Laguna Playhouse, Laguna Beach, CA*

Lincoln Center Theater, New York, NY*

Manhattan Theatre Club, New York, NY

TheaterWorks, Hartford, CT

Ivoryton Playhouse, Ivoryton, CT

Trinity Repertory Company, Providence, RI

Signature Theatre Company, New York, NY

American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, MA

Connecticut Repertory Theater, Storrs, CT

The Repertory Theater of New Britain, New Britain, CT

Book-It Repertory Theater, Seattle, WA

Sierra Repertory Theater, Sonora, CA

Seaside Repertory Theater, Santa Rosa Beach, FL

Telluride Repertory Theater Company, Telluride, CO

Jewish Repertory Theater of Western New York, Buffalo, NY

Coastal Repertory Theater, Half Moon Bay, CA

Rocky Mountain Repertory Theater, Grand Lake, CO

Castaways Repertory Theater, Woodbridge, VA

Jonesborough Repertory Theater, Jonesborough, TN

Texas Repertory Theater, Houston, TX

Stageloft Theater, Sturbridge, MA

SecondStory Repertory, Redmond, WA

Third Rail Repertory Theater, Portland, OR

Repertory Theater of Iowa, Des Moines, IA

California Repertory Company, Long Beach, CA

McKinney Repertory Theater, McKinney, TX

Penguin Rep Theater, Stony Point, NY

Delaware Theatre Company, Wilmington, DE

City Theater Company, Wilmington, DE

University Theater of Georgia, Athens, GA

Diamond Head Theater, Honolulu, HI

Boise Contemporary Theater, Boise, ID

Boise Little Theater, Boise, ID

Illusion Theater, Minneapolis, MD

Theater in the Round Playhouse, Minneapolis, MD

Rosedale Community Players, Southfield, MI

11:11 Theatre Company, Boston, MA

Whistler in the Dark, Everett, MA

Lofte Community Theater, Manley, NE

The Attic Ensemble, Jersey City, NJ

Dreamcatcher Repertory Theater, South Orange, NJ

Theaterwork, Santa Fe, NM

Adobe Theater, Albuquerque, NM

North Carolina Theater, Raleigh, NC

The Clemson Little Theater, Pendleton, SC

Centre Stage, Greenville, SC

Mariemont Players, Cincinnati, OH

Showboat Majestic Theater, Cincinnati, OH

CATCO, Columbus, OH

Licking County Players, Newark, OH

Artist’s Cooperative Theater, Nashville, TN

Community Playhouse, Tullahoma, TN

American Heartland Theater, Kansas City, MO

Hangar Theater, Ithaca, NY

Lucille Ball Theatre, Jamestown, NY

San Angelo Civic Theatre, San Angelo, TX

Vortex Theater, Austin, TX

Beaumont Community Players, Beaumont, TX

Unity Theatre, Brenham, TX

Theatre Three, Dallas, TX

Ennis Public Theatre, Ennis, TX

Kaufman Civic County Theatre, Terrell, TX

Vermont Stage Company, Burlington, VT

Essex Community Players, Essex, VT

Northern Stage Company, White River Junction

Gala Hispanic Theater, Washington, DC*

Jackson County Community Theatre, Brownstown, IN

Sugar Creek Players, Crawford, IN

American Theatre Company, Chicago, IL

Chicago Shakespeare Theatre, Chicago, IL

Oracle Productions, Chicago, IL **

Organic Theatre, Chicago, IL

Raven Theatre, Chicago, IL **

Remy Bumppo, Chicago, IL **

Signal Ensemble Theater, Chicago, IL

Steep Theatre Company, Chicago, IL

Strawdog Theater, Chicago, IL

The Gift Theater Company, Chicago, IL

The House Theatre, Chicago, IL **

Hypocrites, Chicago, IL **

The Mammals, Chicago, IL

Timeline Theater, Chicago, IL

TUTA Theater, Chicago, IL **

Writers Theatre, Chicago, IL

Clinton County Civic Theatre, Frankfort, IN

Red Barn Theatre, Frankfort, IN

Fort Wayne Civic Theatre, Ft. Wayne, IN

Footlite Musicals, Indianapolis, IN

Mud Creek Players, Indianapolis, IN

Munster Theatre Company, Munster, IN

Richmond Civic Theatre, Richmond, IN

Community Theatre of Terra Haute, Terra Haute, IN

Colonial Playhouse, Aldan, PA

Act II Playhouse, Ambler, PA

The Actors’ Net, Bucks County, PA

Totem Pole Playhouse, Fayetteville, PA

Fulton Opera House, Lancaster, PA

Fulton Theatre, Lancaster, PA

Hedgerow Theatre, Media, PA

Bickford Theatre, Morristown, NJ

* indicates no women directors have been hired either

** indicates multiple years on the Girlcott List

Complied by Sabina Friedman-Seitz

NY Times Notable Books of 2010 - 50% are by women.

Someone at the NY Times is paying attention to our rants against end of year "lists" that contain few works by women. On this year's NY Times Notable Books of 2010 almost every other author is a woman. So cheers to the feminist who compiled the list. The entire list can be found here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/05/books/review/100-notable-books-2010.html?pagewanted=2&ref=todayspaper

Here is a sampling of some of the fantastic female authors and their works:

APOLLO’S ANGELS: A History of Ballet. By Jennifer Homans. (Random House, $35.) The question of classical ballet’s very survival lies at the heart of this eloquent, truly definitive history, which traces dance across four centuries of wars and revolutions, both artistic and political.

DOUBLE HAPPINESS: Stories. By Mary-Beth Hughes. (Black Cat/Grove/Atlantic, paper, $14.) Hughes likes to juxtapose her characters’ relative passivity with the knife edge of evil within or, more often, outside them.

LISA ROBERTSON’S MAGENTA SOUL WHIP. By Lisa Robertson. (Coach House, paper, $14.95.) In these intellectual poems, the experimental curtains suddenly part to reveal clear, durable truth.

THE IMMORTAL LIFE OF HENRIETTA LACKS. By Rebecca Skloot. (Crown, $26.) Skloot untangles the ethical issues in the case of a woman who unknowingly donated cancer cells that have been the basis for a vast amount of research.

SOMETHING RED. By Jennifer Gilmore. (Scribner, $25.) Gilmore’s contemplative second novel explores the lost ideals and lingering illusions of a family once politically committed to bettering the world.

Ms Magazine Blog on Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

Check out the cool article on us by Kyle Bachan in the Ms. Magazine Blog.

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/2010/12/02/look-out-its-the-guerrilla-girls-on-tour/

Hey, you never know who might have won the Wasserstein Prize

Thank you for feminisming

In Greece last month one of our workshop participants made a poster that said, simply, Feminisiming. It was a misspelling but I liked all that it implied. Guerrilla Girls On Tour will be taking the next few days off for Thanksgiving. Inspired by the Feministing site we, too, take a moment to give thanks:

Thank you to all the fabulous women we met in Europe last month who inspired us with smart new posters and street theatre. We can’t wait to see you again on the road.

Thank you to Karin Hanta at Middlebury College who made our last tour of 2010 one to remember by assembling such a rocking audience and fantastic student volunteer.

Thanks to Kamy Wicoff of SheWrites.com for summarizing the events surrounding the recent announcement that there will be no Wendy Wasserstein award given out this year because the committee found that all 19 plays nominated were not up to snuff. The emails exchanged with the award’s sponsor, TDF, were enlightening.

Thank you to everyone who put pressure on TDF to reverse their decision and have the Wasserstein committee make another stab at choosing an awardee.

Thank you to the DG women’s initiative for organizing women playwrights into a force to be reckoned with.

Thank you to all Guerrilla Girls On Tour past, present and future, especially Gracie Allen, Josephine Baker, Aphra Behn, Lili Boulanger, Fanny Brice, Coco Chanel, Julia Child, Alice Childress, Cheryl Crawford, Edith Evans, Alexandra Exter, Hallie Flanagan, Lorraine Hansberry, Frances Harper, Edith Head, Laura Keene, Eva Le Gallienne, Edna Lewis, Carole Lombard, Lisa Lopes, Dorothy Parker, Anne Sexton, Sophie Treadwell, Lupe Velez, Ethel Waters and Anna May Wong.

Thank you Yoko Ono for inspiring us to keep on keeping on.

2011 TOUR DATES!

CHECK OUT OUR 2011 TOUR DATES HERE:

http://www.guerrillagirlsontour.com/currenttour.htm

WE WILL BE IN AR, TX, NH, MN, OH, NY AND THE UK!

TIMELINE women's theatre movement -- New York City

1979-89 Women's Committee of Dramatists Guild is organized by Gretchen Cryer

1981 - League of Professional Women in Theater is founded by Julia Miles
www.theatrewomen.org

1989 - Women's Committee of Dramatists Guild stops meeting.

1989- Coalition of Professional Women in Arts & Media is founded. www.nycwam.org

1997 – A group of women request to revive the Dramatists Guild's Women's Committee. Board of DG and then executive Director Richard Garmise deny request.

1998 – The Guerrilla Girls begin addressing discrimination against women in theatre with “In this theatre…” sticker placed in toilet stalls of theatres in NYC that do not include any plays by women in their mainstage seasons.

1998 – Women in Theatre: Mapping the Sources of Power, On the 20th Anniversary of the Women's Project and Productions at The New School with support of Ford Foundation.

2001 – Guerrilla Girls split into three new groups. The theatre girls form Guerrilla Girls On Tour, with a mission to end sexism in theatre. They use the Tony Awards to stage a protest shedding light on sexism in theatre. Mother Jones Magazine covers the protest.

2002 - Release of a study, "Report on the Status of Women: A Limited Engagement?" prepared for the New York State Council on the Arts Theatre Program by Susan Jonas and Suzanne Bennett with the assistance of Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

2003-Women Count, a group of concerned dramatists come together and request the Dramatists Guild to revive the Committee for Women. Request is again denied.

-Guerrilla Girls On Tour premiere new play “The Herstory of Women in Theatre” , uncovering the vast contributions women have made to the art form.

2005 – The League of Professional Theatre Women include Guerrilla Girls On Tour in their CUNY-TV show “Dialogues with Notable Women In Theatre. The GGOT’s name the Roundabout Theatre the most sexist theatre company in New York City with a continued record of producing no plays by women and not hiring any female directors.

2007 – Support Women Artists Now (SWAN Day), begins as an annual event by WomenArts.

2008- Playwright Julia Jordan organizes meeting at New Dramatists to discuss gender disparity in theater.

2009 – An ad hoc group of 6 Dramatists Guild members meet and recommend that the Guild take concrete steps to address gender disparity.

– Emily Glassburg Sands unveils the results of her economic study on discrimination against women in theatre at a townhall meeting in new York City.

- An event - "50/50 in 2020: Parity for Theatre Artists," is held by the League, Women's Project, and New Perspectives Theatre.

- Princeton University sponsors a conference "Women in Theatre: Issues for the 21st Century."

- League of Professional Theatre Women create a committee to track stats on women in theater.

–A new group, 50/50 in 2020 is founded by Susan Jonas, Julie Crosby and Melody Brooks to take action on finding solutions re gender disparity in theatre.

– Four members of Dramatists Guild -- Cindy Cooper, Catherine Gropper, Andy Landis, Barbara Masry organize the Dramatists Guild Women’s Initiative.

2010 – Guerrilla Girls On Tour receive the Courage Award for the Arts from Yoko Ono.

Street Theatre - Szeged, Hungary

No comedy allowed at Theatre of Dionysus

Maya Deren, Julia Child and Aphra Behn attempted to don gorilla masks today for a photo shoot at the famous Theatre of Dionysus in Athens, Greece. As soon as we began our comedy routine amid the ancient ruins a guard began yelling at us to STOP! Apparently masks, which used to be de rigueur at the centuries old theatre, are now banned for fear of someone making fun of Greek Drama on facebook. There's a tragedy at the Acropolis and it isn't "Electra!"


Guerrilla Girls On Tour! subversive action at Acropolis!


No comedy or gorillas allowed in this theatre.


Athena rolls over in grave.

Athens Poster Workshop

Check out some of the posters and activists who attended our Athens Poster Workshop!

Street Theatre

Street theatre in Szeged, Hungary!

Szeged, Hungary

We arrived in Szeged, Hungary yesterday and this morning are at the food market. Here are some photos. Street theatre workshop today with university gender studies students!


WOMEN AT MARKET

Wow - Ljublana, Slovenia, that was HOT!

Watch live streaming video from ggontour at livestream.com

Check out our entire performance above! Plus we included the post-event Q&A session.

The audience was lovely and Tammy the Tummy was outrageous! Gorka - what a pro! Now, POTICA!!!

(actually party-ca!)
- Maya Deren

Preview of The SHOW!

Watch live streaming video from ggontour at livestream.com

We've been hard at work prepping for the performance and live stream today! Check out the clip above - Size Two Pants - our sassy parody of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance. Below, see some images of the show in action. We go LIVE at 2 pm EST, so check back then on our online channel: http://www.livestream.com/ggontour







Potica!
- Maya Deren

Live, from Slovenia! Guerrilla Girls On Tour - If You Can Stand The Heat

Watch live streaming video from ggontour at livestream.com

Today, at 2 PM EST, join us LIVE in Ljubljana, Slovenia. The show, "If You Can Stand The Heat: The History Of Women and Food", is laugh riot of funny feminists aping on the stage. We twist Lady Gaga, bananas and potica into a yummy mush of comedic madness.

On stage are the dynamic duo Julia Child and Aphra Behn. I'm the mouse monkey, in true Maya Deren fashion, shooting and streaming the video live.

And, joining us live today is a class from Purdue University! Welcome!

So watch and interact with us live! I'll be watching the social streams and chat box as we perform.

banana-na-na!
- Maya Deren

Guerrilla Girls Report From Slovenia!

Guerrilla Girls on Tour heads to Slovenia and does a workshop on street theater. The results are performed in Ljublana's main square. Meet a fresh batch of activists, created under the tutelage of Aphra Behn, Maya Deren and Julia Child.

- Maya Deren

Day 1 in the CITY OF WOMEN

Maya Deren, Julia Child and I have arrived in the City of Women – aka paradise. Here in Ljubljana, Slovenia we held a street theatre workshop today for about 20 savvy and sassy Slovene feminists. The list of issues they wanted to create street theatre about was probably the longest list we’ve seen in a while but many of the themes we’ve seen before i.e. apathy, lack of art in education and sustainable foods. The group split into 4 smaller groups to work on smaller pieces of street theatre and for an hour we honed down the performances to 4 concise pieces. Then we hit three bridges square to perform. Here are some photos of KNOW! Knowledge, New Art NOW! BE KIND TO ANIMALS, TRY IT HERE, IMMIGRANT APPLES and WRITE ON MY SHIRT. It’s a great day for activism at City Of Women!

Calling All Feminists!

ARE YOU A DIGITAL REBEL?
WANT TO BE A PART OF A GLOBAL GUERRILLA FLASH MOB?
HAVE A CELL PHONE WITH VIDEO AND A YOU TUBE ACCOUNT?

THEN JOIN GUERRILLA GIRLS ON TOUR! THIS FALL
IN SLOVEINIA, HUNGARY, GREECE AND NEW HAMPSHIRE!

This fall Guerrilla Girls On Tour! are launching a flash mob / street theatre tour aimed at proving feminists are everywhere with lights, camera, and action. We’re starting off in Eastern Europe and then making our way back to the US of A. In every city on the tour we’ll collaborate with local feminists and fun loving rabble-rousers to dance discrimination away on the streets. Then, with the help of you and your video camera the world will get a sneak peek of both the fight and the fun.

THE ONLY WAY TO FIND WHERE THE FUN IS TO FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK OR TWITTER:

www.facebook.com/GuerrillaGirlsOT
www.twitter.com/GuerrillaGsOT

SEEKING: PRO and AMATEUR PEOPLE who like to SHOOT VIDEO, DANCE, ORGANIZE, MAKE NOISE and be OUTRAGEOUS.

DATES:
Slovenia – City of Women Festival October 14-17, 2010
Hungary – October 18-21, 2010
Greece – October 22-24, 2010
New Hampshire: - November 18, 2010
(More Tours Planned for 2011)

Guerrilla Girls On Tour! – 2010 Yoko Ono Courage for the Arts Award
“…an air of celebration and some potent satire!” – The London Times
(Want to see your city or town on the list? Fe-mail info@ggontour.com for more info.)

Julia Child's take on our Ohio tour of "If You Can Stand the Heat...."

March 4, 2010

Dear Deezers,

Ohio. The land of farms and greetings. I am, of course, referring to the "hi" right in the middle of the oooohhh's. There's something so promising about the word Ohio for just those reasons. And Denison certainly delivered. Not just delicious pre-show wraps, chocolate and seltzer, but crackerjack smart students. I was in love with the participants in our poster-making workshop who made intelligent, provocative posters and images around issues they were psyched to tackle: gender identity, capitalism, the (il)legality of marijuana, and sexual violence. Before we worked on posters, we conducted some theatre exercises and made them become human sculptures and tableaux. They obliged willingly and enthusiastically, thus contributing to the collaboratively driven sharpee/newsprint masterpieces. Bravo participants!

Per GGOT style we braved the Bee (Applebees) and the Roo (Ruby Tuesdays) of Heath, Ohio, waking up from the daze of NYC as food paradise. I can't say I miss Ruby Tuesdays when I’m not around one but I can say that I miss the incredibly generous and articulate audience that came to see “If You Can Stand the Heat: The History of Women and Food”. Our student volunteer, (Tara) played Tammy the Tummy and got pied in the face at the end of the show. I was the culprit that had the pleasure of pie-ing her. For her, it was a total surprise. For me, it was completely gratifying. Nothing like a little dessert after some masked activism, I always say.

Another highlight of the tour was our cab driver back to the airport when all was said and done. She delivered brilliant every-five-minute saucy one-liners while we shop-talked about theatre. She was a farm girl by birth, and a cab driver by trade: it was the perfect hybrid of Ohio and NYC and a great way to cap off the trip.

Bon appetit,
Julia Child

The Daily Femme, Girl Drive and Gender Across Borders

We are featured on three fantastic blogs:

The Daily Femme - Check out the interview here: http://www.thedailyfemme.com/femme/2010/06/interview-with-aphra-behn-artistic-director-of-guerrilla-girls-on-tour/

Girl Drive - We are guest bloggers discussing women in theatre here: www.girl-drive.com

And we wrote an article for Gender Across Borders' Theatre’s Rape Culture series here: http://genderacrossborders.com/ Looking forward to your comments! Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

More Reports from the SPRING TOUR

March 3rd, 2010

Dear Diary,

Well, we have arrived safe and sound in Greater Licking County, Ohio. I have to say the open roads and clear sky are an incredibly refreshing break from the beautiful but incessant city chaos. I am lovin’ our company meals at Applebees and The Olive Garden – we feel like a real company. This just happens to by my maiden Guerrilla Girls On Tour voyage – (I was inducted into the group via a banana eating contest last fall!) Eating and drinking as a Guerrilla Girl On Tour feels very cool and fun and new.

We had a smashing workshop this evening with twenty or so students from Denison University. Julia Child did a rockin’ job introducing us and working with students. People are definitely jolted by our masks and wigs but once they talk to us and see that we are normal (though anonymous) human beings, they open up and feel more at ease. I love working in this medium. It really forced me to focus on the students and the issues they needed to discuss.

I think the moment I graduated from my alma mater I felt I knew more than all under-graduates. Making posters with these young adults reminded me how smart college kids are. College is this beautiful time in your life when you can focus on your brain and sort out your points of view on life and politics. Not that these POVs won’t change, but for many of us it’s the first time in our lives we develop ourselves as separate entities from our home-life and family roots. I was particularly touched by a poster series on sexual assault which addressed both men and women: it challenged men to listen and women to speak up. How great!
Ta for now, xo
MFK Fisher

March 4th, 2010

Dear Diary,

Day 2! Woke up at 8 to eat free hotel breakfast which lasted until 9. I now know that it is only food that will get me out of bed at 8 in the morning when I have time to sleep in until 11. I avoided eating bananas as we scarf several of these on stage during our performance.

After a full productive day of strong techs (and a couple of line flubs), we meet our “Tammy the Tummy” a.k.a. our student volunteer who interacts with us in the show. “Tammy The Tummy” is the name we used in rehearsal back home, before we knew who our volunteer would be. Our volunteer’s name is Tara. Which is very close to Tammy. Now Tara /Tammy The Tummy gets a pie in the face in our show. A surprise pie in the face. I was privately worried that poor Tammy might be affronted by this unsolicited pie. But on meeting Tara, who was lovely, enthusiastic and up for anything, I am confident that we can pie her without hurting her feelings or bruising her ego. Or setting off her deadly dairy allergy – (she doesn’t have one. We checked). Her hair got messed up, but that was the worst of it.

Our show goes well with a minimal amount of snafus - a great start when you consider this is the world premiere and the first time we are putting up our multi-media piece “If You Can Stand the Heat: The History of Women and Food”. The audience seemed a little shy and got a bit quiet whenever we asked for audience participation; but they laughed with us and were engaged throughout the show. I remember our audience members leaning forward in their seats with mingled interest/discomfort when we were outlining the procedure of a gastric bypass procedure (which Julia narrates in our “fat bias” section of the show). They were into it, if a little private.

After the show Aphra kindly bought us drinks, toasted to the GGOT’s (new and returning), and then drove us all back to the hotel where we collapsed our potassium rich bodies on our hotel beds.

The show was a success! Now time for rest and the plane ride back home tomorrow.
Xo
MFK Fisher

March 5th, 2010
Day 3 – a quickie. Entry. That is. A quick entry.
Today is all about travel. Our workshops and shows are complete. Aphra left for home ahead of us; Edna Julia and I share a cab to the airport. Our driver is great; she hands us all bite-size snickers and pulls over to “Caribou Café” where we pick up our respective caffeine beverages. Somehow I think she would appreciate “The Herstory of Women and Food.”

Edna, Julia and I groggily argue over Lady GaGa’s aesthetics before boarding our plane and heading back to the city. I greatly enjoy this time spent after the show. Without lines to run or pie to clean out of our Guerrilla masks, we talk about our lives outside of Guerrilla Girls On Tour and our weekend plans. A good end to a good journey.

Cheers to my Guerrilla Girl On Tour gals and the Dennison student collective.

Au revoir, xo
MFK Fisher

Reports From The SPRING TOUR!

EDNA LEWIS reports from the road - our tour to Denison University with "If You Can Stand the Heat: The History of Women and Food"
March 4th, 2010

March 3rd, 2010

Diary Dearest,

I’m not sure if I am glad or sad that I wasn’t forewarned about the size of our plane. I’ve been on bigger buses! Instead of fear, I will embrace my inner Beyonce and think of it as a private jet. We had a quick ride and a smooth landing - what more can a Diva ask for? We had an uneventful drive to Denison University. Granville, Ohio is dollhouse – aka adorable town. Remember that episode of “The Twilight Zone” where the couple wakes up in a town they can’t escape from, only to find out they are toys for a giant little girl? Well this town would fit that scenario perfectly. Our poster making workshop was fun, energetic, and informative. It mad me a little nostalgic for my college days.

Luv,
Edna Lewis

March 3rd, 2010

Diary Dearest,

Woke up at the crack of 10am feeling refreshed and ready to go. Added a shower, some food, some coffee and I am now hyped and ready to go! Practice, practice, practice, and raking the I-270 are the way to performing at Ace Morgan Theatre. Our run through and tech went swimmingly. Our volunteer “Tammy the Tummy” is prepped and ready to go.
The show was amazing. We had a fun, and a sometimes shy audience. But once they came out of their shells, it was on. I was a little nervous about my "Where'd your ass go?" line, but I was worried for nothing because it got a huge laugh. Sure, there were only two Sista's that I saw in the audience, but as far as I'm concerned we were out in full force.
There was fun, surprises, and whipped cream. What more can a Guerilla Girl On Tour ask for?

Luv,
Edna

March 4th, 2010

Diary Dearest,

Its been real Ohio. Thanks for the memories Denison University. Its time now for me to board my Bus/Jet and fly home!
Luv,
Edna

MORE REPORTS FROM MFK FISHER and JULIA CHILD coming soon!

TONY AWARD ROUND UP

15% of all 2010 TONY NOMS go to WOMEN

Number of women nominated in the following categories:

BEST PLAY 1
BEST MUSICAL 0
BEST BOOK 0
BEST SCORE 1
BEST REVIVAL PLAY 0
BEST REVIVAL MUSICAL 1
DIRECTOR OF A PLAY 1
DIRECTOR OF MUSICAL 1
CHOREOGRAPHER 2
ORCHSTRATIONS 0
SCENE DESIGN PLAY 0
SCENE DESIGN MUSICAL 2
COSTUME DESIGN PLAY 1
COSTUME DESIGN MUSICAL 1
LIGHTING DESIGN PLAY 0
LIGHTING DESIGN MUSICAL 0
SOUND DESIGN PLAY 0
SOUND DESIGN MUSCIAL 0

TOTAL NOMINATIONS 11 OUT OF 72 OR 15%

MORE BROADS ON BROADWAY PLEASE!

Going Bananas at Bluestockings

We held our annual GUERRILLA GALa last night at Bluestockings Book Store and Café on the lower east side. Bluestockings is owned by a five-person workers’ collective and is staffed by about 60 volunteers. (The staff was awesome to us all during our GALa).
The store hosts events almost every night and we were lucky to be the featured event last night.

Kudos to GGOT Anne Sexton who single handedly organized the event and arranged for a diverse bunch of about 50 of NYC’s theatre women to arrive at 7PM for the schmooze. We had young and old with both long and short resumes in attendance as well as representatives from organizations like the Women’s Project, Theatre for a New City, Dixon Place and the League of Professional Theatre Women.

I was so impressed and in awe of the women who showed up, who each gave a two minute speech about what they were currently working on and what they hoped to accomplish in the theatre in the next few years. It seemed there was much more hope at this event then there had been at past ones.

I wonder if it’s because of Emily Sands’ economic study on the state of women in theatre or perhaps the impact of the newly formed 50/50 in 20/20 group that hopes to have an equally number of plays by both women and men produced in the US by 2020? Are we theatre women more hopeful that our work will get some much needed attention in years to come?

If so, our 13 plus years of effort trying to shed light on discrimination in theater will have been worth it. But we can’t quite take our masks off yet.

Thanks to Carole Lombard, Edna Lewis, Josephine Baker and Anne Sexton for hosting and organizing the GALa. And please if you have never been you must immediately head downtown to Bluestockings - they also run a free-trade café that serves great soy lattes and organic, vegan treats!

Bluestockings – 172 Allen Street (btw. Stanton & Irvington) – 212-777-6028

From a Baboon Boy

Dear Guerrilla Girls On Tour,
When I was a Sophomore in college I had the honor of seeing your performance of "Feminists of Funny". From that point on my life was changed, so much so in fact that I added a gender/women's studies major to my degree. I recently came across a situation that required all my Guerrilla Girl power! I was commissioned to write a one act-for an evening of plays all based on the same original story. Well, I come to find out that ALL the playwrights are WHITE MEN (myself being the only gay one), and NO women were involved at all. As soon as I found out I called the producer and told him I couldn't be a part of the project unless I was able to write from a female characters point of view, as well as have a full cast of Latina women, and to top it all off, my piece would have to be directed by a female. The amazing thing is, the producers totally understood, and were even supportive of my choices once they saw their mistake. This has shown me a few things, 1) Sometimes people need to be made aware of their sexism if they ever want to change it, 2) white, gay, "males", can be feminist super-heroes sometimes, and finally 3) The Guerrilla Girls On Tour change lives wherever they go!!

Your Baboon Boy,

Jean Genet

Our Youtube Channel is Yourtube Channel

Awesomeness Alert: Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

Check out what feministing.com has to say about Guerrilla Girls On Tour!
http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/18952
http://www.feministing.com/archives/020700.html

If you are not familiar with the Guerrilla Girls on tour, get familiar, there work is amazing, you know, if you are into that radical art, street theatre, anti-sexism thing! Check them out in action:

SIZE 2 PANTS LYRICS

For those of you who requested the lyrics to our parody here they are. Feel free to sing them loudly all day long. L ro R Edna Lewis, Julia Child and MFK Fisher

“SIZE 2 PANTS” sung to the tune of Lady Gaga’s Bad Romance” by Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

I want some junk food
A Big Mac with cheese
I want to slip into
My Levis with ease
Fits like a glove
Glove, glove, glove
Fits like a glove

I go to Denny’s
To eat a Grand Slam
I need a waistband
That is gonna expand
Fits like a glove
Glove, glove, glove
Fits like a glove

My pants aren’t too tight
They all fit me just right
And that’s because they’re not size 2 pants

Some women starve and some women will purge
And they still can’t wear a size 2 pants
Adore the size of the body you’re in
You don’t need to wear a size 2 pants.

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Can’t wear a size 2 pants
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Can’t wear a size 2 pants

Fits like a glove
I don’t want to pretend
Fits like a glove
I don’t have a rear-end?
Je veux Size Deux
Et je veux ta pretend
Je veux ton amour
I don’t have a rear-end?
Yes I have a rear-end!
Yes I have a rear-end!
Can’t wear size two pants!
Can’t wear size two pants!
Some women starve and some women will purge
And they still can’t wear a size 2 pants
J’adore the size of the body you’re in
You don’t need to wear a size 2 pants.

Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Can’t wear size 2 pants!
Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh-oh
Can’t wear size 2 pants!

Ra ra-ah-ah-ah
Roma roma-ma
GaGa Oh la-la
Can’t wear size 2 pants!

Our parody of Lady Gaga's Bad Romance

Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" is turned into "Size Two Pants" by Guerrilla Girls On Tour in our show about women and food. Here's a clip from a recent performance at Denison University in Ohio.

American Theatre Wing’s Jonathan Larson Grants maintain status quo of sexism on Broadway

What’s wrong with this picture? The American Theatre Wing announced that its 2010 Jonathan Larson grants had been awarded to 4 men. That’s right, not one woman this year or last year received a JL grant. Since 1997 the Jonathan Larson Foundation has given out 104 grants. Only 16 of those have gone to women or to theatres producing a musical by a woman. The grant is described by ATW as “for individual creative theatre artists to turn to for financial support and encouragement. The Jonathan Larson Grants honor the talented creator of Rent and ensure that his spirit continues to inspire the future of American musical theatre.” I guess they believe that the future of musical theatre is reflected in what’s currently playing on Broadway. There are 26 musicals on Broadway – 23 by men and 3 by women. That’s 12% representation by female musical theatre writers. Just 15% of all Jonathan Larson grants have gone to women. I know there are just as many women writing musical as men so why do these grants help to maintain the status quo instead of encouraging more women’s voices? What’s currently playing on Broadway? Discrimination. Note to American Theatre Wing – we need more Broads on Broadway. In 2011 give only women awards. Feel free to steal that idea.

-Aphra Behn
© 2010

Photos from Yoko Ono Courage for the Arts Awards dinner

L to R Julia Child, Aphra Behn of GGOT with Josephine Baker of GGBB and Yoko Ono seated.


Julia and her big hair.


Julia Child and Aphra Behn with Martha Wilson of Franklin Furnace


Courageous artist, Yoko Ono.

Yoko Ono Courage For The Arts Award 2010

Julia Child and I got into our biggest wigs and our highest heels and headed down to the Modern to meet Yoko Ono Lennon and her guests at the second annual Courage for the Arts Awards dinner. We were one of 5 groups being honored and were humbled and grateful to be acknowledged for our work and our commitment to change the world, one sexist city at a time.


There was an hour of wine and yummy hors'dourves in a room overlooking MOMA’s sculpture garden and it was here that we met Yoko. I was struck at how warm and down to earth she was as she immediately put Julia and I at ease as her guests. We gave her a small gift of a hand carved gorilla and baby from the Dian Fossey Foundation dedicated to the conservation of gorillas and their habitats in Africa. While mingling we were honored to also meet Martha Wilson of Franklin Furnace (www.franklinfurnace.org) and the folks from Printed Matter who were also being honored. A. A. Bronson and Max Schumann congratulated us as we toasted to their continued success. (www.printedmatter.org) Just before dinner was announced we met journalist and art critic Edward M. Gomez who was intrigued by our masks and wigs. We were standing with Josephine Baker and Juana Sor Ines de la Cruz of Guerrilla Girls BroadBand (www.ggbb.org) another of the awardees and the five of us discussed activism and art.

After an hour we moved into the dining room and found our places. Julia and I sat at a table with Edward M. Gomez, Kathy Halbreich of MOMA and RoseLee Goldberg of Performa. The food was exceptional and the conversation moved from art to performance to cooking to Japanese culture. It is clear that Yoko Ono has the warmest of friends and only surrounds herself with great people - on this night a few masked ones as well.

It was time for Yoko to present the awards and as Julia and I went up to accept the framed award she grabbed our hands and held them. She spoke about how she felt it important to honor artists for having courage. Courage is bestowed onto soldiers but should also apply to artists who take risks, she said. Yoko mentioned that there was great energy in the room – we all felt it as well. As photos were being taken after the ceremony she whispered “keep doing what you are doing…don’t stop!” I nodded and urged her to do the same. She looked at me as if that idea had never once had crossed her mind. After this night I hope it never crosses mine again either.

We are having trouble adding photos to this post so they will be posted tomorrow. The text of our speech our below. Onward we go armed with courage and some new friends.

Happy Passover,
Aphra Behn March 29, 2010


Happy Women’s History Month! My name is Aphra Behn and this is my colleague Julia Child. We are two of the 26 members of Guerrilla Girls On Tour, also known as the theatre girls. We are honored with this award and thank you, Yoko, for your own courage and commitment to change and peace. As we travel around the world with our performances and street theatre actions, we meet many young women and men who want to channel the passion they have for the causes they believe into action but have very little first hand experience with radical theatre, protest marches, activism and resistance. One of the most important and rewarding things we try to do is inspire the next generation of theatre activists with new ways to effect change. Here is a letter from a student that we received last Tuesday while we were in Tennessee.

Dear Guerrilla Girls On Tour,
Four years ago I moved to Tennessee. All of a sudden I was the only one on campus who wanted to fight for women’s rights. I was immediately the subject of many hateful rumors. I countered this by reading feminist books and getting involved in the Women’s Council but I still felt hopeless. Then you showed up and the moment that your show “Feminists Are Funny” started I began laughing. Smiling AND laughing, for over an hour! Your humor, strength and passion woke me up and reminded me why I have to keep fighting through the tough days. I want to be able to speak out against violence against women and empower others to do the same. Suddenly I felt less alone. Even though I don't know who you are you made a big difference in my life tonight. Thank you for making me smile, and reminding me that every woman is worth it.
Love, "Alice Paul"

This award will help us to work with all the “Alice Paul’s” out there who continue the struggle for equality for all. Thank you.

Aphra and Julia