DIVAfest April 20 - 30, 2005		DIVAfest Press Photo Gallery DIVAfest Poster
	EXIT Theatre Presents DIVAfest a theatrical collage of the female creative April 20 - 30, 2005 San Francisco RESERVATIONS: 415-673-3847 CLICK HERE FOR ONLINE TICKETS	The Mandala Olive Project Ambivalent Geneses some life The Abortion Show...or Uhh...bortion show... Beauty and the Breast Loba But What Have You Done For Me Lately? Lori K. Butler	ARTWORK: Lori K. Butler
The fourth annual DIVAfest blossoms forth in San Francisco on all 4 EXIT Theatreplex stages with two weeks of the female creative, from Wednesday April 20 through Saturday April 30. This year's DIVAfest includes two new commissioned pieces, both EXIT Theatre world premieres, two newly developed solo shows, an exhibit, workshops and readings.
The Mandala Olive Project developed by Amy Mueller & Denmo Ibrahim and The Ensemble, directed by Denmo Ibrahim The Mandala Olive Project is a new performance built over a three month process delving into the history, the hype, and the tension in Israel and Palestine. Utilizing first hand accounts, current media clips, and agricultural characteristics of the land of Israelis and Palestinians, this on going project seeks to question where one can begin to understand this family feud when the material overwhelms and skews, misleads, and leaves mere impressions of the truth? The Mandala Olive is a hilarious collaboration of our confusion of the current tensions as well as poignant glimpses into the search for home and refuge. Jewish American director Amy Mueller (Artistic Director: Playwrights Foundation) and Arab American director Denmo Ibrahim (Co-Artistic Director mugwumpin) have teamed together to develop the foundation of the piece. With Ibrahim as director of The Mandala Olive Project, a crafted and highly stylized precision of physical vocabulary is at the nexus of this new experimental work.   Created by Denmo Ibrahim, Amy Mueller and the Ensemble Directed by Denmo Ibrahim The Ensemble: Christina Augello Joseph Estlack Denmo Ibrahim Rebecca Noon Light and Set designer: Amanda Ortmayer Live Soundscape: Totter Todd Light Board Operator: Narendranath Larsen EXIT Stage Left, 156 Eddy Street, San Francisco WED/THUR/FRI/SAT 8PM APRIL 20 - 30, 2005			PHOTOS: Laurie Gallant
Ambivalent Geneses written and directed by Sarah McKereghan Ambivalent Geneses is a new one-act dark comedy written and directed by Sarah McKereghan, featuring Bernadette Quattrone and Ryan Oden. If you were the last woman or man left on the planet, how would you make sense out of it all? What would you turn to? This story of the power of nature versus the power of spirituality explores knowledge and ignorance, sexuality and love, and the redefining of gender roles. Will the “chosen ones” learn from the mistakes of the past and build a new world together or will their prejudices doom the future of humankind? Sarah McKereghan's latest play CICADA, which premiered at EXIT Theatre, was recently celebrated as one of the best new plays of 2004 by the SF Bay Guardian.   Author & Director: Sarah McKereghan Cast: Bernadette Quattrone Ryan Oden Lighting Design: Emily Ransom Stage Manager: Elizabeth Roddy Set/Sound Design: Peter Q. Parish			Bernadette Quattrone & Ryan Oden PHOTO: Laurie Gallant
some life written and performed by Mia Paschal A woman finds herself reflected in unexpected mirrors: black blondes and Harriet Tubman in Hollywood, a hard woman among strong ones in a Queens hospital ward, the syzygy of Brancusi, clothespins, and Billie Holiday's smile, betrayal in a stranger's bedroom, the morning after a drunken one night stand, Harvard and molar-sized diamonds at a Potrero Hill BBQ, and one very industrious, very tiny little spider on her ceiling.Written and performed by Mia Paschal, directed by Emily Koch, with lighting design by Curtis Overacre, some life will show you 13 facets of a black woman in these United States as she explores her perception of how others perceive her and how she perceives herself – change your angle.some life received the Best of the SF Fringe 2004 for female solo performance. “A different angle changes everything - any poolshark, fisherman, boxer, or helpless wayward bullet could tell you that.” Author/Performer: Mia Paschal Director/Dramaturg: Emily Koch Lighting Design and Lightboard Operation: Curtis Overacre Sound Design for "The Date": Mojo Tchudi			Mia Paschal PHOTO: Laurie Gallant
The Abortion Show...or Uhh...bortion show... written and performed by Abby Schachner Chicago playwright Abby Schachner presents her newly developed solo piece, The Abortion Show...or Uhh...bortion show..., part love story, part confessional...all heart. Counting down from 100, a woman, under the spell of medical gasses encounters her past and experiences a trip more moving than an orgasm. A new work featuring singing condoms, two hangers getting it on, and a talking fetus as her costars.   Written & Performed by: Abby Schachner			Abby Schachner
Beauty and the Breast by Liebe Wetzel Liebe Wetzel's BEAUTY AND THE BREAST is a humorous and poignant new work based on interviews with women who are are survivors of breast cancer. At DIVAfest 2005 she will speak about her new piece on breast cancer and the collaborative process of creating found object theatre. She will also be auditioning objects. She is casting lace bras, sports bras, wigs, stethoscopes, pill bottles, grapefruit, kitchen knives, cutting boards and mops. Please bring anything that is lighter than the kitchen sink. She will take volunteers from the audience and turn them into manipulators. BEAUTY AND THE BREAST will premiere at DIVAfest 2006.			PHOTO: Laurie Gallant
Loba by Diane di Prima Diane di Prima, celebrated beat poet, will read from her poem LOBA, a visionary epic quest for the reintegration of the feminine, hailed by many as the great female counterpart to Allen Ginsberg's HOWL when the first half appeared in 1978. LOBA, "she-wolf" in Spanish, explores the wilderness at the heart of experience. Diane has published forty-two books of poetry and prose and her work has been translated into more than twenty languages. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1934, a second generation American of Italian descent. Her maternal grandmother, Domenico Mallozzi, was an active anarchist, and associate of Carlo Tresca and Emma Goldman. She began writing at the age of seven, and committed herself to a life as a poet at the age of fourteen. more biographical information on Diane di Prima MEDIA			Diane di Prima PHOTO: David Short
But What Have You Done For Me Lately? by Myrna Lamb Part polemic, part history lesson, this provocative, brutal absurdist one-act allegory illustrates the passionate urgency and anger behind the era's violent struggle to legalize abortion. Myrna Lamb's 1970 pro choice play celebrating women's liberation will be presented as a staged reading. EXIT regulars Libby O'Connell and Sean Owens provide a crisp, thoughtful take on this challenging script's consistently timely issue. Staged Reading
Lori K. Butler artwork Lori K. Butler, Visual Artist, will exhibit her illustrations in a group of images that celebrate women and all the different ways a woman can be a DIVA. She will be using a variety of media including computer generation, screen printing and collage. Artwork will be on display at EXIT venues during DIVAfest April 20 - April 30.			ARTWORK: Laurie K. Butler
EXIT Theatre and DIVAfest 2005 are supported by the National Endowment for the Arts, San Francisco's Hotel Tax Fund Grant for the Arts, the William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, the San Francisco Art Commission Cultural Equity Grants Program, the Mary Wohlford Foundation, the Zellerbach Family Fund, the Bernard Osher Foundation, San Francisco's Voluntary Arts Contribution Fund, the Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, the Damatists Guild Fund, the Puffin Foundation, Individual Contributions and other donors.

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