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Thursday, October 8, 2015
Act Like a Feminist Artist - coming to a town near you for Women's History Month!
Tuesday, October 6, 2015
Reporting from the Front: WPIC Cape Town, South Africa—Part 3
In this special three-part series, Aphra Behn from Guerilla Girls On Tour reports on the recent Women Playwrights International Conference (WPIC) in Cape Town, South Africa.
To read the report click below:
http://howlround.com/reporting-from-the-front-the-tenth-women-playwrights-international-conference-in-cape-town-south-1
To read the report click below:
http://howlround.com/reporting-from-the-front-the-tenth-women-playwrights-international-conference-in-cape-town-south-1
Delegate Nehprii Amenii (USA). Photo by Nehprii Amenii.
Monday, October 5, 2015
Reporting from the Front: The Tenth Women Playwrights International Conference in Cape Town, South Africa—Part 2
A special three-part series, Aphra Behn from Guerilla Girls On Tour reports on the recent Women Playwrights International Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. - See more at:
http://howlround.com/reporting-from-the-front-the-tenth-women-playwrights-international-conference-in-cape-town-south
http://howlround.com/reporting-from-the-front-the-tenth-women-playwrights-international-conference-in-cape-town-south
Sunday, October 4, 2015
My report on The 10th Women Playwrights International Conference Part I is out!
CHECK OUT MY REPORT FROM THE FRONT Cape Town, South Africa!
10th Women Playwrights International Conference PART !
Monday, June 15, 2015
THE HERSTORIC 2015 TONY AWARDS
Occupy Broadway
I loved the metaphor Lisa Kron used in her Tony acceptance
speech for best book of a musical. She said that the house we all occupy has many
rooms but that we seem to just stay in the living room. Cheerfully egging us on she declared, “Wouldn’t
it be great if after this season we didn’t just all go back into the living
room?”
Guerrilla Girls On Tour used to use similar imagery whenever
someone asked us why we were demanding more plays by women be produced. We would smile and throw our hands on
our gorilla-masked faces and exclaim, “You can eat strawberry ice cream all
your life but we are here to tell you that there are many other interesting flavors
available!”
Along with so many other theatre artists and fans I am thrilled
at Kron’s win as well as Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s Tony for best score,
making them the first all female musical writing team to win. But waking up the
morning after the awards I had to drag myself out of bed because I know what is
coming and it exhausts me.
I fear that instead of a steady increase of women writers on
Broadway, everything will go back to the same-old, same-old next season. And by same-old I mean that women and
people of color will be tokenized – there will be one of us working at any one
time so that when Broadway is accused of being sexist and racist they can point
to that one woman or artist of color in any category to “prove” that women and
artists of color are indeed thriving on Broadway.
This year it was reported that Broadway would see an “explosion”
of women with shows by three female composers, five female lyricists, two female
bookwriters, four women directors and two female playwrights. Yet, for the 2015
Tony Awards, women were shut out of nominations for direction of a musical, choreography,
costume design of a play and orchestrations. Only three acting nominees were
non-white and those comprised the total number of people of color nominated in
any category. Yes, you read that
correctly, there were only three people of color nominated across all Tony categories
including the special Tony awards.
Guerrilla Girls On Tour launched several sticker campaigns
at the turn of the century aimed at theatres that did not produce any plays by
women. We would head into the
bathrooms during intermission and place these stickers in the toilet stalls.
After stickering these theatres for few months they would
announce that their next seasons would include one play by a woman at which we
would rejoice (and take full credit for the change). But we noticed a
pattern. After producing a season
that included women these theatres would go back to seasons of plays by white
men, pointing to their previous season as proof of their dedication to
diversity. In fact, there are many
theatres in New York and across the US that still do not include one single
play by a woman or writer of color in their entire mainstage seasons. (The Roundabout
is one with a consistent track record for seasons by all white male
playwrights.)
Presenting one play by a woman or a person of color in a 5 or
6 play season is not enough. One or two Tony’s to women composers, playwrights,
directors, bookwriters is not enough.
Without the vision of women and artists of color, the theatre is like a
musical without a second act. The
solution to the static face of theatre and the slow pace of change on Broadway could
be very simple.
So yes, Lisa Kron, you are absolutely right and I thank you
for mentioning the many rooms in the mansion known as Broadway where creativity
lives. Let us all now rise from our comfy sofas, love seats and easy chairs and
explore the mansion, shall we?
Saturday, April 11, 2015
Hello followers of guerrillagirlsontour blog!
We know we have not been very consistent with posting on our blog.
That is about to change!
We realize there is a void of feminist voices
a need for feminist posts
and we want to know what you'd like to hear about.
We have a few ideas of what our next few months of blogging should focus on:
1) We Are Theatre - how do female playwrights fit into the patriarchal theatre world?
2) Woman is President, If Woman Want it. Grab your raincoats - as soon as Hillary announces her campaign the mudslinging and backlash will begin.
3) If Margaret Sanger were alive today - The current state of the uterus report.
4) All of the above.
Please weigh in with your preferences in the comments section!
Thank you.
Kisses,
Guerrilla Girls On Tour
Sunday, March 29, 2015
Guide to the latest additions to the sexual misconduct and harassment code for the theatre (abridged)
In light of the recent offstage violent actions between a past Tony Award nominee and fellow theater star who were dating each other and performing as the title lovers in a Shakespearean tragedy, the sexual misconduct and harassment code of the theatre has added the following clarifications. (Keep in mind that we are in the business of make believe and there may be special circumstances by which sexual misconduct and harassment are tolerated so that the intent of the playwright and the vision of the director remains intact.) These additional, unenforceable codes apply to all members of the professional theatre community as of today.
CASTING:
If you are asked to take off your clothes at an audition you must be given a reason i.e. the production is a bare bones version of the play; the producer is considering doing the play in repertory with “Oh, Calcutta”; the director wants to see you naked.
REHEARSALS:
Make out scene rehearsals shall follow these guidelines:
(1) There shall be a five-minute break after 55 minutes of making out or a 10-minute break at the conclusion of 80 minutes of a make out rehearsal.
(2) Actors shall not rehearse making out more than five consecutive hours without a meal break of at least one hour.
(3) There shall be a 12-hour recovery period between the end of a make out rehearsal on one day and the beginning of a make out rehearsal on the next day.
PERFORMANCES:
The following acts must be performed a maximum of 8 times a week if written into the script:
flirting
kissing
arguing
fighting
groping
stripping
having sex*
*may be simulated
NOTE: Highly sexualized musicals such as “Cabaret” may also include the following:
ass slapping
nipple tweaking
after hours dating
If weaponry is used in any of the above a qualified fight captain must be present. A qualified fight captain is any person trained in weaponry, experienced in weaponry, knows what the word weaponry means, or is a former boyfriend of the stage manager.
PROTOCOLS FOR REGISTERING GRIEVANCES
If you think you have experienced sexual misconduct and/or harassment (please refer to the guidelines entitled “Complete Guide to the sexual misconduct and harassment code for the theatre (abridged)” you may report infringements as follows:
If you are an actor notify the stage manager.
If you are the stage manager notify the producer
If you are the producer notify the dialect coach
If you are the dialect coach notify the orchestrator
If you are the orchestrator notify the dance captain
If you are the dance captain notify the director
If you are the director assemble the cast together and discuss the claims of the person who has filed the grievance. Moderate a 45 minute session focusing on what should be done. Listen to everyone’s ideas and thank them all for sharing. Then, inform whoever it is who complained (if you don’t remember it is usually the person with the black eye) that they are free to leave the production asap.
Take everyone out for drinks.**
** This is the only circumstance under which it is permissible for actors to perform drunk.
For more information see: "Sex and Violence, Beyond the Script
http://nyti.ms/18NyLkg
CASTING:
If you are asked to take off your clothes at an audition you must be given a reason i.e. the production is a bare bones version of the play; the producer is considering doing the play in repertory with “Oh, Calcutta”; the director wants to see you naked.
REHEARSALS:
Make out scene rehearsals shall follow these guidelines:
(1) There shall be a five-minute break after 55 minutes of making out or a 10-minute break at the conclusion of 80 minutes of a make out rehearsal.
(2) Actors shall not rehearse making out more than five consecutive hours without a meal break of at least one hour.
(3) There shall be a 12-hour recovery period between the end of a make out rehearsal on one day and the beginning of a make out rehearsal on the next day.
PERFORMANCES:
The following acts must be performed a maximum of 8 times a week if written into the script:
flirting
kissing
arguing
fighting
groping
stripping
having sex*
*may be simulated
NOTE: Highly sexualized musicals such as “Cabaret” may also include the following:
ass slapping
nipple tweaking
after hours dating
If weaponry is used in any of the above a qualified fight captain must be present. A qualified fight captain is any person trained in weaponry, experienced in weaponry, knows what the word weaponry means, or is a former boyfriend of the stage manager.
PROTOCOLS FOR REGISTERING GRIEVANCES
If you think you have experienced sexual misconduct and/or harassment (please refer to the guidelines entitled “Complete Guide to the sexual misconduct and harassment code for the theatre (abridged)” you may report infringements as follows:
If you are an actor notify the stage manager.
If you are the stage manager notify the producer
If you are the producer notify the dialect coach
If you are the dialect coach notify the orchestrator
If you are the orchestrator notify the dance captain
If you are the dance captain notify the director
If you are the director assemble the cast together and discuss the claims of the person who has filed the grievance. Moderate a 45 minute session focusing on what should be done. Listen to everyone’s ideas and thank them all for sharing. Then, inform whoever it is who complained (if you don’t remember it is usually the person with the black eye) that they are free to leave the production asap.
Take everyone out for drinks.**
** This is the only circumstance under which it is permissible for actors to perform drunk.
For more information see: "Sex and Violence, Beyond the Script
http://nyti.ms/18NyLkg
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