JANE ANGER at the New Ohio Theatre

 

Back in 1589, one Jane Anger published the earliest known feminist pamphlet in English, Jane Anger, her Protection for Women. Pretty much all we know about Jane (assuming she was indeed a she) is in those pages, of which only one copy survives.  

But playwright Talene Monahon has huge fun envisioning a history for Jane involving William Shakespeare in Jane Anger: The Lamentable Comedie of Jane Anger, that Cunning Woman, and also of Willy Shakefpeare and his Peasant Companion, Francis, Yes and Also of Anne Hathaway (also a Woman) Who Tried Very Hard.

As you might assume from the title, this is no deep dive into feminist history, but it is deeply hilarious, providing many a welcome belly-laugh. 

Played with over-the-top verve and gusto by Amelia Workman as Jane, Michael Urie as Shakespeare, Ryan Spahn as Francis, and Monahon as Anne Hathaway, and directed by Jess Chayes, it's at the New Ohio Theatre through March 26.

https://newohiotheatre.org/

Yes, Karen Finley's back!

But then, she never left.

Brilliant, fearless, and deep, Karen Finley will forever be associated with a 1989 performance, We Keep Our Victims Ready, in which she applied chocolate to her bare torso, while speaking disturbing truths about sexual abuse and the claims of love that accompany it.

Outraged conservatives spearheaded the passage of a law mandating that NEA grants comply with "general standards of decency and respect for all the diverse beliefs and values of the American public," thereby leading the NEA to veto Finley's latest grant application, along with those of three other artists. The NEA Four, as they were called, sued the agency on the grounds that their First Amendment rights were being violated, won in the lower courts, but in 1998--after the Clinton administration elected to continue the appeal--lost in the Supreme Court.

Through the years since, Finley has continued speaking truth to power in performance and in print.
 
Her latest, Grabbing Pussy, is as timely and provocative as the title suggests.

You can catch her Sunday, August 5 and 12, at the Laurie Beechman Theatre at the West Bank Cafe, in New York City, an intimate space that's well-suited for her.

And on September 12, she'll be at the ISSUE Project Room, as part of the Brooklyn Book Festival.

She tours, too.

Stand Up and Take Your Clothes Off!

While my friend Christine's boyfriend was watching the Super Bowl, she and I had made a date to do something that would not involve football.  Stand Up and Take Your Clothes Off, an all-woman show of comedy and burlesque, at the Kraine Theater,  proved to be just the ticket.  Hosted by comedian Kerryn Feehan, abetted by Jillaine Gill, the show featured two other comedians and four burlesque artists.  Yes, artists. To someone who'd seen little burlesque in the past and had never sought it out, these women were revelatory.  

"Do you think the guys would have liked this?" I asked Christine at the break.  She thought the humor might have been a little too female-centric for them--we'd chortled over bits involving IUDs, boobs, and endometriosis--but said, "I think they'd like the dancing."

Stand Up and Take Your Clothes Off can often be seen at the Kraine, 85 E. 4 St., on the first Sunday of the month at 8 pm---next scheduled for April 2.    

http://www.horsetrade.info/the-kraine-theater

Defenestration

For those of you who don't follow it already,  Defenestration is a lively online humor magazine.  Check out their April issue--and in particular my short piece "Pitch Meeting: Election 2020: Running Mates":

Defenestration: April 2016 - Defenestration