#weirdlinkedin, this is the best story you’ve never heard.

(typing REDACTED in my last post jogged this memory)

when i was in seattle, i got to see erin pike and C. Meaker’s exciting collaboration…i’ll let them say it in their own words, but…

i was there in the audience the night they PLAYED THE VOICEMAIL at the top of the show…behind me, Daniel on sound and Hatlo fervently sliding the smooth plastic window of the booth open and closed, shouting out the window “REDACTED” whenever erin held her hand up to her mouth so she could still whisper the line in order to not lose her place

and the AUDACITY of the grumpy men, defensive at being called out by their on cowardice and mi·sog·y·ny at wanting to “cut” a section from the play, when the section was merely the sound of a specific number of pages fluttering away, without a word said.

princess auoda from around the world in 80 days goes up and down and left and right and question and so glad you saved me sir (don’t think about the colonialism, don’t do it, not now) a whirling dervish that is over faster than clearing a level of candy crush (not one of the nightmare ones)

these renegades, interrogating the system, these tenderhearted queers, scaring the big powerful angry men with their show in a 50. seat. theatre.

only 50 of us were there that night.

it is one of my proudest and luckiest achievements in this lifetime that i was one of them..

Meaks’ work first taught me what a queer play could be 🎭 🏳️‍🌈

this was good trouble, chaotic good, creative mischief: a exploration of why we were accepting theatrical crumbs, over, and over, and OVER again when we were hungry for the whole meal and were always meant to lick the plate clean.

excerpt from their website:

So… I was not paying attention, what was That’swhatshesaid?
Erin Pike and I set out to create a piece examining what we’re saying about women in American theater using the words written for and about them in the most-produced plays in the country.

(For the iteration that everyone is currently discussing we used the Theatre Communications Group’s most-produced plays from 2014-2015.)

Erin is a performer, I’m a playwright. As a performer, Erin was frustrated with the number of roles available for women and the kind of roles available.

It’s disheartening to audition for a large ensemble show with 15 characters and realize that out of 15, only two or three are open for women and that those roles often are not necessarily substantial.

The roles for women are often secondary characters, sexualized, or “mothered” (meaning “hell no” to sex), or, or, or, or. As a female playwright, it’s disheartening to know the statistics about the likelihood of your work being produced as compared to male playwrights.

Our frustrations manifested in this collaboration to show just how prevalent these issues are even in the most-produced (ie. most popular) plays in the country…

That’swhatshesaid FAQ