Advocacy

Manila Pages - Part 3

SUJATA BHATT

Los Angeles, CA

Random Meanderings on Theater Because Alice Asked

Women making theater.  That in itself is revolutionary given the global history of male actors impersonating women.  What would it mean to impersonate-to take on the persona of, to be in the person of another, for entertainment or for fraud?  A fraudulent theater?  A theater that commits fraud?  Offering politics in the guise of  entertainment?  Offering entertainment in the guise of politics?   Laughter as a way of getting things said and seen?  What if women impersonated men?  An entire theater of women acting like and as men? Lysistrata-like, becoming warlike and manly in order to get men to do our bidding?  A bidding for peace?  A mirror to men that they can see themselves as they seem to our eyes?  Warlike and wastrel. Theater for me begins in language but then takes on the form of sight.  Insight.  Light.  Delight.

For me these days theater is a daily act, but not as a playwright grappling with global capitalism or how to pace an act.  These days I teach first graders how to read which means putting sounds together to make sense, and then putting words and sentences together to make meaning, and then putting meanings together to make a scene.  I teach them to read with expression, to imagine the feelings of the characters whose words and deeds they are reproducing (feelings = . ? and ! ).  After that they get up and do the actions their characters are doing.  This being first grade, the characters are often deeply concerned with relations between cats and hats and bats.  They tend to hop and jump and moo, and with great regularity tumble down hills.   Welcome to theater, first-grade style!  The kids love it.  They learn to make words come alive, to bridge life and text.  Slowly, haltingly, but with great joy and liberation.  What is about making theater that it's liberating for children who are already such free creatures?   Is it theater's sense of play, because children really just want to play all day?   Or is it maybe that it helps them make the strange new world of written language into something they already know and can own?   What can we grown-ups learn from them?

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TALAYA DELANY

Provincetown, MA

Enduring theater.  Maybe that's where I ought to start. When I was a student with Adrienne Kennedy, I remember her telling me that theater is a huge endurance race -- and most people drop out in their mid-late twenties -- that they sort of give up the ghost after that, being assaulted by all the real life things -- having to make a living, justify oneself to family/friends, justify oneself to oneself most particularly, maybe -- in the sense of what am I doing?  Does this make sense?  Is this a useful way to spend my life?

I think, being a woman, the endurance race is even tougher. Worrying about things like -- how will I have a family?  How will I get the bills paid -- take care of myself?  What is this all leading up to? My mom always says that the most important thing you have to do as a woman, as a person, is be able to take care of yourself -- be independent.  And living a life in the theater -- this seems particularly difficult.  The lack of stability, the sense that you can try and try and still not get a production -- because of x numbers of factors -- makes it really hard to soldier through, makes it hard to keep hoping.  Women, more than men maybe, self-select themselves out of the race -- because the whole thing seems impossible.  I also think -- from own experiences in graduate schoo l-- that women are encouraged less, seen as less "serious" -- then men -- and this below the radar discouragement can make it harder to keep going, keep pushing.

So I think enduring theater is finding a way to not self-select yourself out of the race.  Finding a way to keep writing, keep doing -- even if its just a little something every day -- something you can control and own, something that keeps you writing and thinking and sane, even at times when the whole thing seems pointless.  How does one do this?   Ritual works well for me -- things I have to do no matter how I feel -- things that are not dependent on whether this theater or that theater is going to produce something, etc.

Everyday, no matter what, early morning, I try to sit down for a period of time in front of the computer, and write.  Even if its crap. Even if its hopeless.  Because this keeps me from being afraid of the act of writing, and it makes writing part of my schedule, like going to work, jogging, etc.  I also (less successfully) try to keep the business end of things going.  One day a week, send out a script, find out about a prize, research a new theater.

These things might take awhile to pan out, but it makes you out in the world -- and things can unexpectedly occur, boomerang back -- once you put the feelers out.  That's how I ended up spending two years in Dublin.  I sent out a play to the Abbey Theater, didn't even think about them responding, but they did -- and the process culminated in me going to Dublin, workshopping my play there, and building a real relationship.  Just one random submission one Thursday night.  I think lots of things happen that way, you show up somewhere, you make yourself available, you meet people -- and things boomerang back, maybe not in a month, but in several months, a year, the important thing is that somehow you're in the world -- and things can happen that way.  What else keeps me sane? Friends -- other playwrights, writers, artists, whoever, anyone who knows what the whole struggle is like.  Going to artist residencies is a great way to meet people like this -- and makes me feel less alone, like what I'm doing isn't quite as crazy as the world says it is -- or at least if it is crazy, I'm not the only one who's gone insane.  There's other folks out there.  And to drop a note, email, show someone stuff -- can keep me going when I'm feeling tired or rejected.

In the end though, the whole thing is about writing though, isn't it?   I mean, no one can take that away.  If I keep writing plays, keep pushing and developing and growing stronger -- come closer in craft and heart and thought to this thing I'm trying to build, this play -- that's the secret, I think.  I mean, that's what makes the whole thing worthwhile to me -- to keep developing my craft, to struggle to be a better writer, a more precise writer -- that's the struggle I want to be part of -- that's what I want to dedicate myself to.  And enduring theater -- figuring out how to not let despair, worry, etc. cripple me -- find out how to own my own writing, build it for myself, have a network of resources to keep me going -- is how I'm trying to create the space to become a better, stronger writer.

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RUTH MALECZECH

New York, NY

Never been to Manila. You're so lucky to be going - and with Jessica,
too and Ellen who is so dear to all of us.  As for a statement about the theater, that's really not possible.  The theater that interests me doesn't make statements, it asks questions. So, no statement.  My next question in the summer of '05, is called "Song For New York" and is an inquiry into the United States obsession with heroism, particularly individual heroism.  Five poets, all female, from each of New York's five boroughs, five poems about the place and the people, an all men's chorus with knitting needles providing the percussion.  Maybe each section travels from one borough to
another on the back of a truck with an open bed.  Should this piece be spoken/sung in many languages?  What are the best musical equivalents for each borough?  Should the work be performed by puppets or people?   You see, I said it's nothing but questions.

Yours truly
Ruth

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EMILY MANN

Princeton, New Jersey

I have been ruminating about the journey for myself and other women in the theatre, but particularly on Broadway, since I am back on Broadway at the moment-- ever since you've written.  (This is my third time directing on Broadway.  First I wrote and directed EXECUTION OF JUSTICE in 1986, then I wrote/adapted/directed HAVING OUR SAY in 1995, and now I am directing Nilo Cruz's beautiful Pulitzer Prize winning ANNA IN THE TROPICS.) 

When I graduated from college in 1974 and decided I wanted to be a director (I did not know then I wanted to be a playwright) I was told by the head of the Drama Center at Harvard that women did not direct professionally. "You might be very talented," he said to me, "Why don't you consider children's theatre?"  Luckily, I was raised by an independent mother and a father who was an early feminist.  They gave me the mistaken idea that I could do whatever I wanted to do.  By the time I found out that that was not true, it was too late.  Being told no because I was a woman simply got me mad and spurred me on.   I was the first woman to direct on every main-stage I directed on in the 1970's and early 1980's.  Sadly, however, even in 1995, when I was nominated for a Tony award, (for playwrighting and directing for HAVING OUR SAY) I would have been the first woman to win for directing a straight play on Broadway in the 65 year history of the awards.  Thank God, the next year Garry Hines won it (Garry is a very talented woman).  One other woman has won the award since Garry Hines: the brilliant Mary Zimmerman.   (In 65+ years since the awards began, only two.!)  It is still not an even playing field.

Broadway is a strange animal, of course, and is not the ledger for success. I am frequently reminded of the joys of running my own theatre outside of NY, the McCarter, in Princeton New Jersey. However, I must tell you this anecdote which reminds me of why Broadway can be important, especially to those of us who have been historically excluded -- Yesterday, we had a press conference with the Latino press for ANNA.  It was conducted all in Spanish. (This is the first Pulitzer for drama won by a Latino, and the first all-Latino cast of a play on Broadway).  I could actually understand the Spanish, but I cannot speak the language well enough to venture a word in public!  It was the most moving press conference I have ever attended.  Priscilla Lopez cried as she recounted her life in the theatre and what it meant to her to be a Latina in a real play, not a musical, not a "Latino comedy based on stereotypes, but in a work of art about Latinos" on Broadway."  The others, Jimmy Smits and Nilo Cruz most notably, also eloquently concurred.

When I was leaving, a reporter asked me why I chose Nilo's play to direct and I told her what an honor it was to work on his brilliant play.  The reporter responded by saying she had never felt so cherished or respected at a press conference.  For the first time, she was "not a second class citizen, but an honored American."  The Pulitzer Prize and the honor of it being on Broadway meant the world to her, to the community, and to her colleagues.  I was so moved by this, naturally, but I must tell you, this reminded me of the opening of HAVING OUR SAY on Broadway.   HAVING OUR SAY was about two African-American sisters, both over a hundred years old.  For the first time on Broadway, by the way, the play was by and about, acted by, and produced all by women.  It is a documentary, and I had the privilege of giving voice to these remarkable, brilliant, wise and funny women as both playwright and director.   For the first time, Black women felt they were being heard from on Broadway (and not as whores or beleaguered Mamas on the Couch) but as educated, smart, tart, and irreverent voices of America.  (The sisters were called our "national treasures" in the press and the Black community came out in proud droves, often dressed in their Sunday best.)

In reality, in the last three decades, there has been some headway for African-American work all over the country, and for Latino work, for other writers of color, and for women.  Since I heard the "WHY DON'T YOU TRY CHILDREN"S THEATRE" remark, there has been some progress for women... However, though there are a few notable and highly visible exceptions, the numbers for women (that is the percentage of work produced in this country by and/or directed by women) has changed very little since 1980.  We must continue to cheer each other on -- to mentor, and champion, write and produce each other's best work.  But we must keep in mind that we are nowhere near parity with our male colleagues.   And we must remember, too, that our voices are so desperately needed, in every venue.  We must be heard.  We have been and are so often the voices of sanity.

I salute everyone at this conference and wish them the very best on their important work.
Yours,
EMILY (MANN)

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SUSAN RUBIN

Los Angeles, CA

I began doing theatre during the Vietnam War.  Born and raised in New York City, I had seen Broadway shows since I was big enough to be stuck in a seat; but when I came of age, I found theatre in New York wasn't speaking to my political concerns, and was distinctly a man's art form.

I headed for Oakland, California, where the Black Panthers, Angela
Davis, the San Francisco Mime Troupe, the Haight-Ashbury, and the
Berkeley Free Speech Movement, created a melting pot of politicos and artists coming together to dialogue about how to Change the World.

In those years there was government funding for the arts allowing
companies to pay artists a living wage.  Amazing theatre was made as artists developed who spoke to specific cultural groups: children,
seniors, women, lesbians and gays, people of color.  I worked teaching tap and jazz dance while I studied Vaudeville, Karl Marx and Bertolt Brecht.  (Tap, jazz dancing, and vaudeville were valued as "indigenous American popular forms").  The theoretical studying validated my belief that all art is political, and artists are responsible for what they put on stage.  I ran my first theatre company, performing original musical plays in High Schools; we portrayed U.S. history focusing on the role of women and people of color.

I came to Los Angeles when Reagan was president and had destroyed the infrastructure from which we had created work we believed in.  I came hoping to join the "mainstream"; to influence the TV industry with progressive ideas.  I was quickly rejected as an actress because I didn't look American and "nobody would want me to sell their product."   That's a direct quote.  So, once again I started my own company.  I began to write more and perform less. Soon after coming to LA, I got breast cancer.  I was lucky enough to survive, but two close friends got the disease and died within months of me being cured.  I was no longer interested in acting, but quickly found my voice playwriting.   My first play, produced at the Los Angeles Theatre Center was "club termina" about four women
who had died of breast cancer, and were in a nightclub in the Underworld, singing and dancing as they waited to be reincarnated.  I have written about what I know: women's lives, injustice, power, the meaning of Life in a world with so much violence and Death.  My current plays are "The Trial of Persephone", an adaptation of the Greek myth in which I look at power, the nuclear family, and rape. And "Eve's Drop" about women being punished for seeking wisdom. "Eve" takes place in a morgue which is undergoing an electrical power outage.

I work with many of the forms I learned in my early years: music,
vaudeville and comedy are strong influences in what I write.  My desire is to reach an audience that is broad and diverse, by being first and foremost entertaining.  My work always includes multi-cultural casting, and while I still focus on women's issues, I am less simplistic in my analysis.  I write documentary shorts for a large, feminist organization, and teach At Risk High School kids playwriting. Coming full circle, I am beginning to be produced in New York.  This winter I have a reading of "Persephone" at a progressive off-broadway theatre.   I want to do theatre in a city where the art form itself is not a stepchild of the TV industry.  I once wanted to infiltrate the mainstream and change it, I now want to do theatre that influences my audience to think.  There are plenty of people to push mainstream culture to a better place, I think I'm most effective in the art form I started in; which I love and have been a part of for so many years.

Wish I could be there to see your wondrous conference!

Susan Rubin: Playwright, Artistic Director, Indecent Exposure Theater Company

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