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