ROLL CALL ON HEALTH CARE BILL

1) Dems who voted NO #HCR
Kucinich, Kratovil, Kosmas, Kissell, Holden, Herseth Sandlin, T. Edwards, L. Davis, A Davis, Childers, Chandler, Barrow, Bright, Boyd, Boucher, Boren, Boccieri, Baird, Altmire, Adler, Markey, Marshall, Massa, Matheson, McIntyre, McMahon, Melancon, S. Murphy, Minnick, Nye, Peterson, Ross, Shuler, Skelton, Tanner, Tylor, Teaque, Gordon, Griffith.

For complete voting list: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/votes/house/healthcare/index.html

NOTE: Women Dems who voted NO #HCR Kosmas, FL; Herseth Sandlin, SD; Markey, CO.

2) DEMS who voted YES on STUPAK amendment to restrict women’s rights.

Altmire, Baca, Barrow, Berry, Bishop, Boccieri, Boren, Bright, Cardoza, Carney, Chandler, Childers, Cooper, Costa, Costello, Cuellar, Dahlkemper, A. Davis, Donnelly, Doyle, Driehaus, Ellsworth, Etheridge, Gordon, Griffith, Hill, Holden Kanjorski, Kaptur, Kildee, Langevin, Lipinski, Lynch, Marshall, Matheson, McIntyre, Melancon, Michaud, Mollohan, Murtha, Neal, Oberstar, Obey, Ortiz, Perriello, Peterson, Pomeroy, Rahall, Reyes, Rodriguiz, Ross, Ryan.

3) DEMS who voted YES on STUPAK and NO on #HCR – what was the point???

Altmire, Boccieri, Boren, Bright, Chandler, Childers, A. Davis, Gordon, Griffith, Marshall, Matheson, McIntyre, Melancon, Peterson

For complete list: http://www.openleft.com/diary/15915/dems-who-voted-for-the-stupak-amendment-to-restrict-womens-rights

A public service message from Guerrilla Girls On Tour!

If You Can Stand The Heat: The History of Women and Food

Hungry?
Here are some nibblets Guerrilla Girls On Tour discovered on the internet in the last 10 minutes:

• February 4th marks the 27th anniversary of Karen Carpenter’s death via anexoria nervosa.
• The major motion picture Julie and Julia is moving into it’s 2nd month of release.
• The Biggest Loser is currently in it’s 9th successful season on NBC.
• 18% of the world’s population is starving, and they’re not doing it on purpose.
• May will mark the 2010 annual James Beard Awards Celebration.
• Paula Deen has 45,000 followers on twitter.
• Fat Camp The Musical debuts at the 2009 New York Musical Theatre Festival this month.

Are you confused? So are we.
Every time we open the refrigerator.

Jamming food into our mouths is the way our major organs continue to function. It’s a good thing, but it’s an awfully loaded act, isn’t it? We think so too. This is why we are booking the first tour of our newest production: If You Can Stand The Heat: The History of Women and Food. In the show, we will address women’s consistent anxiety around food and the body, we’ll feature a handful of lady culinary heroes who contributed to the menus of our daily lives, and we’ll investigate what responsibilities we have as surplus-food American citizens to the under-nourished nations in our global community. The show is a hilarious, flour-dusted, theatrically surprising stage conversation meant to dissolve fears of food borne from obliviousness and encourage freedom of the fork.

As we’ve toured across America, we’ve noted that the most pervasive issue young women want to tackle in our poster-making activism workshops is around BODY IMAGE. We realized we have a lot to talk about, a lot of work to do, and a lot of bread to knead while we do so.

Still hungry?

The show involves 3 performers, a photoshopped chorus of satirically charged images (per usual), and live food preparation. Spoiler alert: I wouldn’t be surprised if somebody got a pie in the face.

We’d love to come to your town and get the dinner party started and the word out. We’re touring If You Can Stand The Heat: The History of Women and Food January 2010 through May 2010. Of course, we’d be happy to head your way anytime, but scheduling performances as we tour will help reduce costs associated with the performance.

Come visit us: www.ggontour.com. We tour a variety of different shows and workshops. You can check it all out there!

Trick or Tweet us: www.twitter.com/GuerrillaGsOT

We can’t wait to dine with you.
Oh, and by the way, we chew with our mouths open! Don’t tell our moms.

WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS – SUBMIT YOUR SCRIPTS NOW!

An interesting part of Emily Glassberg Sands' analysis of gender bias in theatre focused on four plays she submitted to 250 theatres across the country. Each play had two pen names attached, one a male and one a female. Both women and men read and rated the scripts in terms of quality and economic prospects. Emily found that men rated plays the same regardless of gender, while women rated the plays by women lower when the script bore a female pen-name. However, the quality of a play was divided into different sections. While women rated plays by women lower re the chances of it winning a prize, having likable characters and whether the play would fit into their theatre season, women did not report personally believing that a script with a female pen-name was of lower quality.
The playwright responsible for inspiring Emily’s analysis, Julia Jordon, sent me an email last night regarding these stats. Here is part of what she wrote: “…women are predicting their audiences and the critics to be discriminatory, probably more discriminatory than they actually are, and are therefore not putting forward or producing the plays by women. All in an effort to protect their own and their theater's success and financial well being. They need to learn that the audiences in fact discriminate IN FAVOR of work with female protagonists and appear to not care at all the gender of the person who wrote the play.”
This is true. Emily Sands found that plays with a female protagonist were preferred by audiences and that they didn’t care who wrote the play. She also found that on Broadway plays written by women were significantly more profitable than plays by men.
Plays by women have a higher audience appeal!

Are you reading this producers? Are you listening female playwrights? A producer is waiting for a script penned by a woman to drop onto their desk so get up and run to the post office. CALL TO WOMEN PLAYWRIGHTS - send your scripts out NOW!

-Aphra Behn
© 2009

Gender Bias In Theatre

Edith Evans and I headed down to Playwrights Horizons to hear Emily Sands present the conclusions of her year long study on gender bias in theatre. Entitled “Opening the Curtain on Playwright Gender: An Integrated Economic Analysis of Discrimination in American Theatre”, the 45 minute lecture was both an affirmation of what Guerrilla Girls On Tour has suspected all along and an eye opener. First of all, Emily presented evidence gathered from Doolee that there were more male playwrights than women playwrights. Doolee is a free site for playwrights in the US, UK and Canada that lists writers and their work. This stat I suspect is off. From our research via the Dramatists Guild playwrights are split 50% male and 50% female. Next Emily explained how she enlisted the help of 4 women writers (Pulitzer prize winner Lynne Nottage was one) to write spec scripts for her. She then sent these scripts out with one half bearing the by line of a man and the other of a woman. The plays that bore male names were rated higher. No surprise there. But the scripts with women’s by lines were rated lower more often by female literary managers and artistic directors. Shocker to most but when Emily revealed that fact Edith and I just looked at each other and smiled knowingly. Q: What’s the biggest obstacle to feminism? A: Other women. Guerrilla Girls On Tour has used this line for the past 7 years in our performance piece “Feminists Are Funny”, which dramatizes the disparity for women in theatre (i.e. less than 18% of all plays produced in the US are written by women). While most of the feedback we receive on our work is positive, the small percentage of hate mail comes from, you guessed it, women. Emily Sands’ findings in her year long study on gender bias in theatre reconfirms what we have suspected all along -- it's our own sisters who have been marginalizing female playwrights. We think it’s because women have to claw their way to the top in the theatre world and by the time they get there they are not only exhausted, but threatened by any other woman who may attempt to replace them. As theatre women we need use our energy to mentor each other and stop feeling jeopardized by each others successes. Read the NY Times article on Emily’s presentation here. See you in the jungle.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/24/theater/24play.html?_r=1
-Aphra Behn
© 2009

2009 TONY AWARDS

No woman is nominated for a 2009 TONY in the following 10 categories:

Best Book of a Musical
Best Revival of a Play (no plays by women nominated)
Best Revival of a Musical (no musicals by women nominated)
Best Orchestrations
Best Scene Design in either play or musical categories
Best Lighting Design in either play or musical categories
Best Sound Design in either play or musical categories

The good news is that two women are nominated for best direction of a musical - Kristin Hanggi for "Rock of Ages" and Diane Paulus for "Hair" and that press agent Shirley Herz is being honored for Excellence in Theatre and Phyllis Newman is the Isabelle Stevenson Award honoree.

MORE BROADS ON BROADWAY- Guerrilla Girls On Tour
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© 2009

University of Hawaii, Hilo Tour Diary

Aloha Diary,
Sometimes flying is not about freedom. Sometimes it's about sleeping with your head on the tray table and moving so people can go to the bathroom in the appropriate locker-sized room in the back of a collection of steel vessels that somehow gets me from East Brooklyn to Northern Hawaii. Josephine Baker and I both elected to function on no sleep en route to the Big Island. We could have attached little anchors to our eyelids as we walked through the Phoenix airport, but we decided it would get in the way of the lost cities of Atlantis we were dragging from our eyelids, and we didn't want to mix our metaphors too early in the day. There's appropriate and then there's inappropriate, and Josephine Baker and Julia Child know the difference. (As if I really had to say that to YOU, diary.)

We made it to Hilo sans Aphra Behn, who was sitting on the tarmac in Atlanta. God was punishing her for being hopeful about an upgrade to business class. The stunning Myhraliza greeted us with leis and a ride to our glorious accommodations next door to Coconut Grove, where we drank Hawaiian beer and pretended to be awake in paradise.

Love,
Julia Child
April 5, 2009


Aloha Diary,
Today we gave a poster-making workshop to the folks in the Hilo Theatre Department, as well as to their radiant Chair, Jackie. They were masters at theatre warm-up games like the name game, which we retitled "I'm Jumpin' Julia." (But of course.) They were also quite adept at silently granting one another permission to take each other's places in a game called "yes." Sadly, we had many false starts when we started to play Big Bootie, but I can't say I didn't contribute to our collective failure to have rhythm we could all be proud of.

Then we wrote down all of the issues we're extra passionate about in Hilo, and got down to the business of making posters. Three groups made brilliant, powerful collections of taglines and images about Drugs/Peer Pressure, Domestic Violence, and the ever-complicated Hawaiian Identity and it's political implications. Applause to the
charismatic geniuses in the Hilo theatre department.

We also took a stab at rehearsing our show, "Silence is Violence," but we were pleasantly distracted by some traditional hula rehearsal in the outdoor halls on campus. We sat and watched the nuanced gesturing of 40 or so folks in sarongs for more than an hour. Could have been days. We were entranced.

Then we couldn't find any restaurants open past 8:00. Yummy!

Goodnight!
Julia Child
April 6. 2009

Aloha Diary,
Today we hung out in Downtown Hilo and I got the raddest airbrushed shirt from Auntie Beth's. She put a piece of lace over the shirt and airbrushed the pattern with purple paint. I keep trying to wear it in New York with flip flops, but every time I go outside it's absolutely frigid. So I put my Quebec sweatshirt on instead. (Remember what I
said about appropriate?) I also patronized Bear's Coffee while I was downtown, and they made a fab soy latte. Though I have to say, it did out price a NYC soy latté at $4.50. I must have looked like I would pay that much for a soy latte. I would and I did.

Then we performed for a nearly full-house in the Hilo cafetorium. The audience was so generous with their laughter and applause. Sometimes we weren't even saying funny things and they were in stitches. Mayhaps I was sporting a "kick me" sign I wasn't aware of? Lei'a was our student volunteer, and she was a fabulous improviser. Sure to be a force to reckon with in the world of political theatre in the future. Lola and Myhraliza kept bringing us the yummiest selections from the beautiful buffet, steamed buns with
pork inside, fried tofu, the freshest pineapple this side of heaven, the works!

Then we went to the only bar open in Hilo, Shooters, and had the bartender make us the only touristy drink he could think of: The Rock Bottom. Karaoke was a dollar a song and even though it's a recession, 10 dollars pretended like it wasn't. I enjoy being a girl.

Mahalo and Aloha,
Julia Child
April 7, 2009

_______________________________________
Day 1: April 5, 2009
Julia Child and I arrived on the Big Island today. I have to admit, I was a little taken aback by the very rainy weather. It wasn't cold, but a little chilly, and not really what I was expecting from Hawaii. But seriously, after the very unspring-like temperatures in New York, I'd take it!

Upon arriving, we found out that Aphra had been having trouble with her flight, and were instructed to meet up with Myhraliza instead. Aphra would be in later that evening.
Myhraliza was amazing from the beginning. She greeted us with beautiful lei's, drove us to our hotel, and made sure we got in safely. Needless to say, after a 12 hour flight, we were pretty exhausted, and thankful for her hospitality. Without it, we would have had to wait another 2 hours in the airport for Aphra!

We settled in, and the first thing I did was take a shower. I had to get that airplane funk off! Dinner was a salad from the hotel restaurant. And let me tell you, the bed was welcome!

Day 2: April 6, 2009
Today was workshop day! It went great. They were theater students! Theater students are full of great ideas, and aren't afraid to be silly and outgoing during warm-ups.

This group was pretty enthusiastic, although there were one or two who were having a hard time letting themselves go completely, and not over-thinking everything. It was also apparent that the group was having a hard time understanding the more internal and specific aspects of free association.

By the end, though, there were 3 great posters. After all of the ideas that were thought up, they were narrowed down to Domestic Violence, Peer Pressure, and Hawaiian Commercialization and Stereotypes. The domestic violence group did the best at collaboration and their poster had a fantastic and compelling image.

We were also able to find an amazing volunteer from this group! Her name is Lei'a. I could tell immediately that she would be great.


Day 3: April 7, 2009
Well, it's show day. I have to admit, I'm kind of nervous. I always am before donning the mask and taking on my Guerrilla Girl On Tour identity. Stay tuned….

The show went great! They loved us! There was no need for me to be nervous. They laughed where they were supposed to and we got in some awesome adlibs. The improvs turned out perfect. I'm glad we worked on them so much. I think that made all the difference. Lei'a was great, as predicted. She was an instant Guerrilla Girl On Tour, and slipped right in to the parts we gave her.

Now, I know I say this every tour, but this one was my favorite tours. OK, it was in Hawaii and I definitely needed to get away. But U of Hawaii at Hilo was so hospitable, and the audience was amazing. I had a fabulous time! Thanks Hawaii. I can’t wait to return.

Mahalo,
Josephine Baker

When you’re a Jet you’re a rapist?

I saw the revival of “West Side Story” on Broadway last night. Directed by book writer Arthur Laurents who is quoted in interviews stating that his revival would be “…radically different from any other production of West Side Story ever done. The musical theatre and cultural conventions of 1957 made it next to impossible for the characters to have authenticity. Every member of both gangs was always a potential killer even then. Now they actually will be.”

Sitting in the darkened audience I never believed any of the members of either the Jets or the Sharks gang was a “potential killer” while watching the mostly (except for the dancing) mild production. The closest they came to bloodthirsty was the frenetic moves sung to “boy, boy, crazy boy, just keep it cool. But in Act II scene 4 Anita is taunted by the Jets gang when she comes to their hangout to find Tony and give him a message from Maria. In the Broadway revival the scene turned violent as the Jet’s gang threw and pinned Anita to the ground then held her dress up so that actor playing A-rab could unzip his pants and force himself on top of her before being stopped by the entrance of Doc. Well, that’s where the show ended for me. The Jet’s aren’t potential killers they are potential rapists.

Not being able to shake the memory of that scene I went straight to the libretto on my bookshelf when I got home to see how the original scene was written. Here is the stage direction from the published libretto; The taunting breaks out into a wild, savage dance with epithets hurled at Anita who is encircled and driven by the whole pack. At the peak she is shoved so that she falls in a corner. Baby John is lifted up high and dropped on her as Doc enters and yells “Stop it!”. I am not sure how it was played in the original Broadway production but it is clear that assault, not rape, is the direction described in the libretto. The racist epithets Anita experiences make her the victim of a hate crime. Yes the gang picks up one of their own members and drops him on Anita but everyone keeps their pants on.

I next went to youtube and watched this scene in half a dozen amateur productions of “West Side Story”. Each one of them suggested that rape was what the Jets intended (and, by the way, were entitled “West Side Story Rape Scene). Could it be that in the over 50 years since West Side Story first opened nothing has changed in how our culture views rape? I’m not against showing rape scenes in theatre but in West Side Story rape is presented as acceptable, everyday behavior. OK, so maybe in the 50’s things were different. But I’m disappointed that the production didn’t break through any of the old ideologies of our culture or of how this scene has typically been staged. The Jets are an average gang of teens who smoke, smack each other around and rape women. When you’re a Jet you’re “the swingin'est thing, little boy you’re a man, little man you’re a king.” On Broadway when you’re a Jet you’re a rapist and that’s definitely not cool.


-Aphra Behn
Guerrilla Girls On Tour
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© 2009

Florida State University

Julia and I were anxious about performing in a place called Club Down Under especially since it was on the campus of FSU Tallahassee, far away from the real down under in Australia. But our fears quickly dissipated for two reasons. The first was the sight of the place…a cool underground club with a small stage, couches, balcony and bar. Secondly, we noticed a set list in our dressing room from the show the night before – evidence that the Ting Tings had been there. Our new version of “Feminists Are Funny” is partly inspired by the Ting Tings and so we saw it as a sign from the Goddesses. It was pouring cats and dogs outside which might explain why the tech crew were no where to be found. Little by little in dribs and drabs some fabulous “event crew” wearing t-shirted techies showed up and we went through our show just in the nick of time for a 9PM opening of the house. This was the latest we’ve ever performed the show and I was not sure I could stay awake past my bed time but Julia rallied me by forcing me to eat handfuls of sun chips and a ham and cheese sandwich which tasted mysteriously like a hot dog right before we went on. Nicole and the board members of the FSU women’s center were on hand to give us support and Diana Alverez proved to be one of the best Chauvinisto’s we’ve ever had. I guess you can tell where I’m heading…the Florida Feminists filled the house and took it down. We didn’t go under in club down under, on the contrary, we floated to the top in spite of the pouring rain. I must say that Julia Child’s ad libs were in rare form….my favorite was when she body slammed me at the top of the show…this was her way of telling me my mike was off. It got a laugh which is all I ask for from fellow GGOT improv Goddess Ms. Child. After the show we found a cool bar that had 50 brands of great beer on tap and hung with the women and men from the Women’s Studies department. LNGS….late night; great show.

Good night from swampy blue state Florida,
Aphra Behn
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Penn State

8 hours on the road and we finally arrive in PA and find a fantastic Italian restaurant (A Taste Of Italy) where Julia and I unwind and bed down for the night. Next day it’s off to State College and our much anticipated return to Penn State. We are met by a great tech crew of Tom, Greg and Matt who take us smoothly through our now seamless show…well, except for the ad libs. Susan of the Women’s Center shows up with dinner platters and smiles and we are all set to go for our show in Heritage Hall.
Julia and I performed to a SRO crowd in Heritage Hall at Penn State. Fabulous feminist audience and the show rocks. Can’t ask for more than that. Here is excerpts from our review.

FROM THE DAILY COLLEGIAN March 18, 2009-04-05
“Feminist performers wearing gorilla masks and wigs threw bananas and bread at a full house Thursday night. A slide show of the women in their masks at various locales around the world played as attendees filed in. The show opened with a routine announcement to turn off all cell phones that quickly became humorous, saying that the Guerrilla Girls would pause for hot flashes, menstrual cramps and contractions that are two minutes apart. When the show began, two women ran onto the stage, wearing bras and control tops over their clothing and dancing like King Kong. They then tore off the bras while making loud monkey sounds, eventually throwing the bananas at the audience. They introduced themselves as Child and Behn, giving a mini-biography for each woman and explaining why they wear the masks and use alternative names. During the performance, feminist topics were pulled out of a hat by the women and then discussed. They began with "memories," which involved the performers showing pictures of the Guerrilla Girls On Tour at places around the world and with people from around the world, including a doctored photograph of them drinking beer with the Pope. The women asked the audience members if they considered themselves feminists. Both men and women alike raised their hands, proving the women's point that feminists come in all shapes, sizes and genders. Next, the performers read letters they had received over the years. Some letters complimented them; others were threatening. One was a letter from a boy who apologized for a fellow student who threatened to kill them. The performance took a more serious note during a discussion on rape. There was no laughter from the audience as the women displayed images of a marriage scene, a little girl holding someone's hand and a man's hand on a woman's thigh, all with the words "this is not an invitation to rape me" stamped across them. However, the moment didn't last long, as the women then put on President Barack Obama and Vice-president Joe Biden masks and blazers and danced to "Saturday Night Fever," ending it with a kiss. They also provided statistics about Obama's achievements for women, such as recently signing an act that now protects women from pay discrimination. The women also graded Pennsylvania and gave the state an F on its "reproductive rights report card" because 78 percent of communities in the state have no abortion providers, they said. They also informed the audience that only seven states guarantee a woman's right to birth control; pharmaceutical employees in the other states are allowed to refuse a prescription because of religious beliefs, they said. The performance ended with a skit about a woman who wanted to produce a play, but the theater owner only produced white men's plays. Penn State's own Serenity Ireland played the female playwright. "They're hilarious. I love it," said Ireland (freshman-theatre). "I might be a Guerrilla Girl On Tour in the summer."

XXXOOOO,
Aphra Behn
March 19, 2009

At Penn State there were crowds for days that stretched to the far corners of the ballroom. We gussied up our Guerrilla suits in an industrial kitchen while ambitious students put tupperwares of ziti in the fridge before the show. I thought about hanging out backstage the whole show and eating ziti, but then I remembered that only 12.6% of NYC theatre productions were written by women, so I combed my back hair and went onstage. I had a pretty big crush on the audience. They were cute and had good taste in entertainment, not to mention the fact that they were really into changing things round those parts. (and they gasped in a kind, concerned way when I tripped up the stage.) sweeties. We hurled bread
and bananas at them to their and our delight.. Bombs over Baghdad!

I had a fabulous time and hope to return soon!

Rubber chickens,
Julia child
March 19, 2009
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© 2008

Bridgewater State College

Driving to Boston early Tuesday morning Julia and I go over the news. AIG bonus disaster and what’s going on with the US banking system. We try to figure out how to work that into future shows. We eventually resort to our old driving game of making up short musicals about impromptu topics….like the hotel we’ll be checking into soon. At Bridgewater State College we are greeting by a group of students assigned to help tech our performance and we are glad that most are theatre savvy techies. The tech goes smoothly and we pour ourselves into the corsets, girdles and bras we’ve added to the beginning of the show. The enthusiastic audience claps and cheers us on and we end on a high note. Now off to Pennsylvania!


Aphra Behn
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© 2008