The Hump

From Rachel:  It's hard.  That point in the process when you know all your lines and don't run into the furniture.... and you have to push yourself over the line so that it isn't just "this is what I say and where I walk."   'Cause you do it correctly enough times and it can feel like it is done.  And it isn't.  Even more so with a piece like this.  It isn't enough to know the choreography and execute it.  Timing, precision, story.  The success of the show is in the crafting, moment to moment, and then selling it big and wide to everyone -- even those outside the theatre on the street.  I know we can all do it.  We took a good step forward tonight.  And that is why it was the perfect nite for Ice Cream Sandwiches.  But don't let that artificial vanilla goodness satiate you.  We have to keep at it.  Cause in the end, it is the detail and the specificity and the grandness of it all that separates a show from a spectacular.  And we are nothing if not (a) spectacular. 

(I think this was a rallying pep talk via blog post. The ice cream made me do it.)  

Madre

From Sara~

Two days off.  Count them! And while we were not meeting in a children's theatre studio with bright colored tissue paper and balloons on the shelf I was working on my lines.  Yup.  Nose to the grindstone, "Don't worry about me guys you go enjoy those fireworks I got some jokes to work on." ...That may be a lie.

Rehearsals are going very well in case you, dear reader, were worried.  There is so much happening and since the acts are relatively short they are each getting to work on their feet and then work little offstage and the get back up and work.  It is exciting to see how they change, sometimes drastically and sometimes just a nudge here or there.  And the most exciting thing that happened last week, was boobs. 

I realize if I had been brought up somewhere fabulous and warm and outside of the US, I would not be so tittilated by boobs.  Bare boobs.   Or excuse me, breasts.  I suppose it would have a different feel if it were Bare BooBed Women Sword Fighting.  Cause you know Boob also means a dummy.  Probably wouldn't have the same effect.

Let me give you the details.  Rachel decides enough kidding around and even though her fight partner was not there, she just rips her shirt off.  And she is there in the children's theatre studio in a rehearsal skirt and a sword ghost fighting with her partner very skillfully and bare breasted.  All eyes in the room, more or less stay on her focused eyes as she dances her way through the piece.  And the other night the Amazons were trying to fight in their lovely costumes.  Originally the costumes were going to only reveal one breast as the Amazon warriors used to cut off a gland so it wouldn't get in the way while pulling back the bow on the bow and arrow.   Certainly breasts get in the way not just back then but daily and even historically.  Think about it, I'm an 11 year old girl not quite ready to let go running around at recess and I got these bouncy things staring me in the face.  Double tank tops won't hide them and then it's a bra, and then books in front of my bulging chest and suddenly I'm wearing eyeliner and sitting in the back row of the movie theatre and reading Cosmo waaaaaayyy to early.  I blame the breasts, or I guess I celebrate them and that beautiful time of change? But they still get in the way.  People brush them, accidentally touch, them, and always say sorry.  And I'm sorry too, cause they're out there, brushing up against people, getting in the way of people's hands.. Though I am not fooled by the front hug from men I don't know that well and am not that happy to see, I turn and give them the side hug.... I digress-REHEARSAL.

Enough about my pre-teen years or that douche at work who goes in for the hug, and back to the action, my Amazon ladies (both Katies) are in their costumes for the first time and they're unsuccessfully hiding the other half of what their mama's gave them.  No audience will believe that either of them is missing a breast.  So these two young actresses go down to just skirts, that's right no tops like we're in the riviera.  They nix the whole top of their costumes and work the fight as free as Mother Nature intended.   And I'm watching them flow through the fight clanging their heavy broadswords at each other and I'm impressed at how stunning their bodies look together, lithe and graceful.  But instead of resorting to my inner third grade boy and being obsessed by areola I am locked into the solid connection between their eyes.  The vaudeville story of this fight is two women, neither good nor evil forced to fight for the audience --Lorraine you should drop some history here.  It is one of the darker moments in the show as they are would have been historically, fated to brutally fight each other for our entertainment.  On Wednesday night these 2 women dangerous and vulnerable step through a safely choreographed fight to the death, capably and confidently they assume warriors and give this dance the gravity of a ritual.   This is some ancient shit.  Nice work ladies, hopefully you, dear reader, will be part of that ritual.

Boundary Crossing... not really about BBWSF but inspired by a moment in rehearsal

From Rachel:

Sometimes, I don't know who I am.

Is that really me walking the dog, singing along openly with George Michael as I go down the street?

Is that really me acting a fool while singing "Little Cabin in the Woods" with teenagers and then throwing my shoulder out?

Is that really, truly me removing my tshirt and bra in rehearsal for no good reason?

Who is this person?  And do people think I am ridiculous?  brazen?  insane?  foolish?  brave?  

I ask this not to prompt direct reply but to rather to reflect that I stand amazed at myself... and I think it is one of the things I like most about me... and am attracted to in others.  The open and out there.  The unexpected.   The unknown.  The serendipitous.   

I gotta put a heat pack on my shoulder now.

distressing damsels

FROM BRIANNA:

When I first heard that I would be playing the Damsel in Distress in a WWE style fight of epic proportions, my first thought was– those two images do not go in the same sentence! And my second thought was, I CAN’T WAIT!

The first showing of our act to the cast was a bit shocking for me. Truthfully I did not expect the audience reaction to be so angry towards the Damsel in Distress. I had not really thought about what it would be like that first week to perform it for an audience to be honest...I had been so focused on learning the fight in our rehearsals with maybe four onlookers. But since that first showing, I keep thinking about why it is that women are so anti-damsel. It seems obvious enough. She is weak and OF COURSE, women are not weak creatures. We have babies, deal with crotch scratchin' inarticulate men, and bleed once a month for God’s sake. I get it. I do. I would not consider myself a weak woman and many of my friends would not fall into the category. I am continually reminded of the strength the modern woman holds. She can be a high power executive or run a country. There is something strong about the woman who wants to be a mother, the best mother she can be and stays home to provide for them. She holds a unique strength that no man can touch...

The second showing to the cast or in some rehearsal (who knows, they all run together) I ad- libbed something about "Well, we all need a little help sometimes? Am I right?" There are two sides to every coin and each sword is double edged. While the women in the audience may boo the Damsel in all her whimsy and glorified submission...the fact remains, we all need help from others (be it women OR dare I say, men?) sometimes. While the Warrior Princess appears mighty and all powerful in comparison to the Damsel...perhaps it is just that I am more aware of my womanly charm and use it to my advantage? Is that not powerful? OR maybe the Warrior Princess isn’t all she seems...while she acts like a tough guy she really isn’t that much more advanced...she still needs her red lipstick and compact mirror. Maybe it is in fact the Damsel who is more honest? She knows what she is and gets what she wants using it? OR maybe the two are different as night and day and one SHOULD win and the other SHOULD lose? I don’t know...

But I’ve enjoyed figuring it out. Maybe this is just me being the actor sympathizing with my character, but I’d be hard pressed to find woman that didn’t have a little bit of damsel in her. :) And it doesn’t have to be such a bad thing! :)

And just for dramaturgical shits and giggles folks, CHECK OUT THESE GORGEOUS LADIES OF WRESTLING:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qiXafKF9XCU

Catholicism and Why I Like Jokes That Degrade Women

From Katie Mo:

Why did the woman cross the road?

wait...what's that bitch doing out of the kitchen?

Jokes about women make me laugh until my sides hurt, I really don't like anything in the genre of "chick flick" and often wish to uppercut Betty Crocker in the face. Isn't she dead? How does she keep coming up with new things to put cheese on? Suck it Crocker.

I think my aversion to being the ideal woman started during Catholic education classes in grade school. The teacher would always talk about these great things the men did in the bible: David, Jonah, Jesus, Paul, Peter...(I think I'm just naming random names now and hoping that they are in the Bible). We never talked about women except for Mary and certain saints whose purpose was to nurse the men back to health or pop out babies, I don't quite remember. But, I do remember this one fine day in 6th grade, the teacher was asking us to pick our saint name for Confirmation. Most of the girls were picking saints like, Grace: the saint of loving animals or Katherine: the saint of being lame. I asked the teacher why there weren't any saints who slayed dragons or pillaged villages? She said that they were, but they were harlots and was asked to choose a more "acceptable" woman figure to follow.

Acceptable? I think a whore that blows shit up is way more acceptable than a woman who is there to serve the men around her. I know plenty of chicks who find jokes that degrade women offensive, but seriously, you're offending all women if you can't find the humor in it.

Now, raise your hand if you like boobies!

Question about Joyce Carol Oats quote on female boxers

From Rachel:

In Women's Boxing and Related Activities: Introducing Images and Meaning by Jennifer Hargreaves, the author includes the following in her conclusion

"Novelist Joyce Carol Oates explicitly rejects the idea that female boxing could be a subversive activity when she declares, 'The female boxer... cannot be taken seriously. She is parody, she is cartoon, she is monstrous.'" 

Thoughts?

Link to article: http://ejmas.com/jalt/jaltart_hargreaves_0901.htm.  Or click title of posting.

Female Fighting

From Rachel:

Highlighting a great website Lorraine found recounting the history of female combat.  Just spent my morning coffee time surfing around this site, taking in some articles here and there.   Highly recommend it if you are involved with creating this project.  (Certainly also recommend if you are just catching this posting.)  Link below or click on the title of this posting.

http://www.fscclub.com/history/zhened-old.shtml

In particular there is a a link on the main page to an article on women's boxing.  Riveting.  The author aims to examine the relationship between the physical body (and its use) and how meaning and identity is derived from it and shaped by it.  Are we not attempting to amplify and exaggerate these meanings/identities in BBWSF?  And in doing so, we therefore create new meanings/identities? Not trying to imply this production is so overtly politically and socially active, or that it is so academically minded. But as I wrestle with what "exploiting" means (when I hear the show "exploits women and violence") this is what I think it can result in: capitalizing on the existence accepted (social?) beliefs.... over-inflating them for the purposes of showing their flaws, their falseness.