A dramatization of the exploits of the French queen Eleanor of Aquitaine. A strong female sovereign alongside both of her husbands, as well as in her own right, Eleanor established the notion of courtship and romantic love in a way that forever transformed the role of women in the west. As a central figure in the chivalric code of courtly love, Eleanor, a true "lioness in winter", showed that women were more than a piece of property sold by a marriage contract and expected to turn into well-behaved bearers of male children. With her influence a woman's attention became something to fight for and earn. For centuries Eleanor has been condemned by writers and only now is her true contribution coming to light. Fairchild's Eleanor imaginatively furthers this new insight into a true diva of history.
Lucky Girl by Frances Driscoll and Tom Juarez
Lucky Girl is the true story of a woman piecing together the shards of a
life shattered by rape. This collection of poems from Frances Driscoll's
book, The Rape Poems, embraces the denial, the acceptance, the suicidal
thoughts and the humor experienced in the aftermath of a rape. It's about
the messiness of our reactions to the events that happen to us, responses
that are often contradictory. It's about learning to live with and accept
that messiness as part of life. Ms. Driscoll's text distills a universe
of emotion. In this new solo show performed by Cheryl Smith, we can see
and hear the universe behind her words. Often painful, Lucky Girl, is also
beautiful, heartbreaking, quirky and funny.
A Most Notorious Woman by Maggie Cronin
Grace "Grania" O'Malley, the hussy who hath indeed impudently
stepped o'er the bounds of womanhood", is the center character in playwright
Maggie Cronin's story of the Irish pirate queen. Set against a backdrop
of an Ireland soon to be lost forever, an Ireland on the cusp of history,
this solo piece performed by Christina Augello, follows Grace from a young
defiant girl to her historic meeting with England's Queen Elizabeth in 1593
at the age of 63. Driven by a fervent love of the sea and a fierce loyalty
to the Gaelic way of life, Grace became a "cut throat, cut purse sailor
woman", a symbol of national defiance, "a nursemaid to every rebellion
in Connaught". Hard-nosed businesswoman… barbarian… woman
in love… romantic heroine… all are revealed in this "absorbing
and multi-layered portrait of a most bewitching and infuriating historical
figure."
You Can't Play Guitar When You're Dead - An Ironic Optimist's Guide
to the Universe! by Carrie Baum Love
The unlikely and often unnoticed (let alone sung about) experiences that
make life worth living, a tour of our universe that you aren't likely to
forget!
Melissa Lyn, Singer Songwriter
Melissa Lyn, born and raised in the Twin Cities, classifies her music as
"alternative folk." Her set list includes "Good to You,"
an inspirational song written for her younger brother, "Next Time,"
a would-be love song, and "Time Spent Trying," an ode to a worry-wart..
Diane di Prima, "What's New?"
Poetry reading by Beat icon and current San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane
di Prima. In her 7th annual solo appearance for EXIT Theatre's DIVAfest,
she will read several of her poems, unpublished and "slightly published,"
over the past five years.
"There were two sisters of County Claire, Oh the wind and rain. One was dark and the other was fair. Oh the dreadful wind and rain..."
Two sisters in a small mill town on the brink of extinction, a mysterious stranger with a fiddle made of bones, a river that runs dangerously high… Based on the ballad "The Wind and Rain," an age old tale about sisters, love, jealousy, revenge and the consequence of change.
BUDDHIST RUMINATIONS: POETRY AND SPIRIT by Diane di Prima
Beat icon and current San Francisco Poet Laureate Diane di Prima has been
a practicing Buddhist since 1962, first in the Zen tradition, and later
in the Tibetan Vajrayana system. As a younger woman she also studied Hinduism,
and has been a practitioner of Western magick throughout her life. Many
of her finest poems reflect these studies and practices. In her 6th annual
solo appearance for DIVAfest, she will read poems inspired by these traditions,
and talk about the place of spiritual practice in her life as a poet.
GRACE. A reading by Lee Kiszonas of her latest play.
Kiszonas' take on Grace O'Malley is a swashbuckling tale of the Irish pirate
queen who battles through Spanish galleons, political intrigue, and personal
betrayal to save her golden boy from the clutches of the indomitable queen
of England.
A TAPESTRY OF TRAVEL TALES by Erika Atkinson
A reading from her travel. journals, or as Erika says -- "Ladies and
Gentlemen, hold on to your armrests and turn on your headlights. Permit
me to take you on a few unplanned adventures to places far away and exotic,
and on a few unexpected trips to places more familiar. It is my hope these
stories will incite your own alliances between savories in the air or sounds
in the barrio, from ancient worlds to the more modern."
LADY OF THE 'LOIN featuring Shannon Day and the songwriting team Don
Seaver and Sean Owens.
A sizzling tribute to San Francisco's raciest, raunchiest, most unrepentant
neighborhood: the Tenderloin. A dozen stories-in-song, about good girls
gone wrong, wronged girls getting the goods, and low-lifes living the high
life. A dozen stories-in-song including "It's Always A Dame",
"A Cut Above", "So Far From Civilized", "The Strut
On The Street", "Homicide's A Gift", "Out Here On The
Edge", "Save Me From Myself", and "Eat At Joe's."
SOPHIE KADOW - DIVAfest Visual Artist
Kadow's work will appear in the EXIT Cafe throughout DIVAfest.
Sophie Kadow is an artist and writer living in New York. She works with
a myriad of mediums, ranging from vibrant watercolors to 99 black ballpoint
pens. An observer by nature, she often finds herself in a cafe or in the
subway, sketching strangers in their most run-down form. More often than
not, the doodles turn into something substantial; as she is most commonly
known for her line drawings of shoddy, disreputable people.
The story of Julie D'Aubigny, a cross dressing sword fighting opera diva forced to fight in Parisian taverns for francs until she is discovered by Philippe Duc D'Orleans who takes her to Marseilles to sing in the opera. There she meets and falls in love with Bette, who believes Julie is a man. Ultimately she is unmasked by Philippe's jealous lover Georges and must fight for her honor with Georges as the horrified Bette runs away and joins a convent. Julie and Philippe concoct a gender bending plan to spring Bette from the convent only to have Julie challenged by the betrayed Bette to a duel…of Honor.
Samsara by Lauren Yee, Director and Dramaturge Jayne Wenger.
The story of an American woman and her attempt to have a child through a
surrogate in India. A staged reading of a Work-In-Progress by Lauren Yee,
the author of Ching Chong Chinaman and other plays.
Capote's Last Frontier by Lee Kiszonas
Fact: Truman Capote earned fame and fortune with the publication of the
true story of Hickock and Perry's midnight murder spree that became IN COLD
BLOOD. Rumor: Truman promised Hickock a large sum of money for the story.
That money was never paid. What if: Robert, Hickock's son, tracks Capote
down and demands the money? It's 1984, Capote is broke and washed up. He
doesn't have the money...or so he says. Robert has brought along a shotgun,
rope and duct tape and will make Capote relive the nightmare he wrote about
so effectively unless Truman can outwit him or come up with $10,000. A workshop
reading.
LADY OF THE 'LOIN featuring Shannon Day and the songwriting team Don
Seaver and Sean Owens.
A sizzling tribute to San Francisco's raciest, raunchiest, most unrepentant
neighborhood: the Tenderloin. A dozen stories-in-song, about good girls
gone wrong, wronged girls getting the goods, and low-lifes living the high
life. A dozen stories-in-song including "It's Always A Dame",
"A Cut Above", "So Far From Civilized", "The Strut
On The Street", "Homicide's A Gift", "Out Here On The
Edge", "Save Me From Myself", and "Eat At Joe's."
Dreams, Visions and Apparitions by Diane di Prima.
Poems from such dreams, visions and apparitions, deliberately invoked, or
arriving out of the blue. Including poems from Calculus of Variations, Selected
Poems 1956-1976, Pieces of a Song, Recollections of My Life as a Woman (including
outtakes), Loba and material from unpublished manuscripts including The
Black Notebook, Dakini Moon, ZipCode and Death Poems for All Seasons.
Euripides with a Doo-Wop Chorus set in 1950's suburban America with a madly updated tragic script that will leave you reeling, panting, and questioning your ideas about faith, love, and the American Way.
WAR HARVEST by Pireeni Sundaralingam
Staged reading of a play-in-progress portraying the fragmentation of trust
among a family that fled to the West from the campaigns of mass rape and
systematic genocide of the Sri Lankan civil war, and the way they end up
desperately clinging to (often quite contradictory) codes of honor.
DIVA Cabaret
Sean Owens (in drag? mai oui!) returns to host, with collaborator composer/musician
Don Seaver and a bevy of Bay Area chanteuses including Shannon Day, Lua
Hadar, Libby O'Connell, Mia Paschal, Janet Roitz, and Sharon Walton.
More or Less Love Poems by Beat icon Diane di Prima
"WHO do you love is the question. And why. . . "
Published and unpublished "love" poems to friends, pets, trees,
plants, family, dead poets, painters and alchemists, various lovers of varying
genders, astral encounters, my kids, times & places that may never have
been, ones I'm sure existed but maybe shouldn't have - these love poems
- are grouchy, happy, sad, ecstatic, erotic, disgusted, silly, bemused,
enraged, and of course "hip" (whatever that means) -- as you would
expect from someone who's been keeping on keeping on and loving (or not)
whatever comes her way. Puppy love from a 73 year old, and wisdom from an
almost-teenager . . .
Trashy Chic by Donna Asturias
Original recreations of T-shirts toparty frocks, transforming the discarded
into the desired
7 Co-directed by Michelle Talgarow & Deborah Eubanks
Crystal Daze, the methamphetamine seductress, weaves her way into the lives of two young women and challenges their mothers for possession of their daughters. Based on true stories, Crystal Daze, explores the world of teens who turn to this drug as the perfect coping method.
HUMAN HANDS by Kerry Reid, Sarah McKereghan director/dramaturge
In an otherworldly cafe run by Mary Mallon (aka "Typhoid Mary")
the proprietress tangles with her latest customer: Ignac Semmelweis, the
Hungarian doctor who, in 1840's Vienna, discovered the link between hand-washing
and the prevention of disease in hospitals. As the two spar, scenes from
their past lives illustrate their common isolation as foreigners, and the
ongoing struggle for humans to strike the balance between collective safety
and individual liberties.
AN AFFAIR OF HONOR by Lee Kiszonas, Adriana Baer director/dramaturge
The story of Julie D'Aubigny, a cross dressing sword fighting opera diva
forced to fight in Parisian taverns for francs until she is discovered by
Philippe Duc D'Orleans who takes her to Marseilles to sing in the opera.
There she meets and falls in love with Bette, who believes Julie is a man.
Ultimately she is unmasked and the horrified Bette runs away and joins a
convent. A gender bending plan to spring Bette from the convent backfires
as Julie is challenged to a duel to the death from the betrayed Bette.
OBSESSED by Maria Rokas, Laura Ellen Smith director/dramaturge
When seventeen-year-old Zoe asks her parents for plastic surgery as a high
school graduation gift, Mom and Dad can't make sense of it. As they sift
through an environment filled with reality TV, tabloid journalism, and the
Internet for someone or something to blame, they're faced with just how
much the world has changed since they were Zoe's age.
THE OTHER CHOICE, by Carrie Kartman & Jennifer Berry, Jayne Wenger
director/dramaturge
As two writers living side-by-side pursue their dreams, their lives spin
off in opposite directions. Kate, high strung, artistic, and slightly scattered
has a career beyond her wildest dreams, but the family she always envisioned
has not materialized. Susan, pragmatic and fiery, sees her once-promising
writing career disintegrating when she stays home to raise twins, soon followed
by a third baby.
DIVAfest Cabaret: Sassy & Seductive
hosted by Sean Owens with Don Seaver
Featuring newly developed material from women including "Legs As Smooth
As Glass", "One Way ATM" and "Revolving Door" by
Bay Area singers and songwriters Alison Bloomfield, Lua Hadar, Mia Paschal,
Janet Roitz, Amy Tobin, Diane Valory and poetess Pireeni Sundaralingam.
Original musical compositions by Don Seaver at the piano and Otto Huber
on percussion. MC'd by the ever sassy & seductive Sean Owens.
ALCHEMICAL FRAGMENTS, Diane di Prima
Beat poet Diane di Prima never practiced laboratory alchemy but her interest
goes back to 1965 when she first came across the work of Paracelsus. Over
the past forty years, alchemical poems have "arrived" in her notebooks.
Diane will be reading from this unpublished manuscript, from excerpts of
some of the great alchemists of the past and share other poems of hers that
are rooted in the study and practice of Western Magick, followed by Q&A
KIRSTEN TRADOWSKY A collection of oil and watercolor paintings that entwine past and present traditions found within theater history and its female icons inspired by vintage photographs, dreams, and interactions with theater.
BEAUTY AND THE BREAST by Liebe Wetzel and Lunatique Fantastique, directed
by Jayne Wenger.
A found-object puppet finds a lump in her self-examination and goes through
the mostly painful, sometimes funny, always human, ups and downs of biopsy,
mastectomy, diagnosis, and treatment for breast cancered. Both humorous
and poignant, the play is based upon interviews with women who are survivors
ob breast cancer, their partners and medical practitioners.
Object Choreography and Casting by Liebe Wetzel, Developed by Lunatique Fantastique with Christine Young and Jayne Wenger, Lunatique Fantastique Puppeteers: Jen Colasuonno, Susie Danzig, Sheila Devitt, Nicole Frantilla, Kelly Holly, Robin Plutchok, Christina Shonkwiler
GUNS AND AMMUNITION by Sarah McKereghan
What happens when four women are thrust together in the face of tragedy?
In the case of the O'Sullivan family, dirty laundry is aired and the claws
come out. But is that necessarily a bad thing? Guns and Ammunition explores
how the ways in which you communicate with others will dictate the health
and direction of those relationships.
WAITING FOR FEMA by Karen Ripley and Annie Larson
Catch a glimpse into your future ... will it be an earthquake or tsunami
that forces you to scream "HELP! FEMA!" Molly and Edna face chaos
in this comic/musical Red Alert. By comic writer-performers Karen Ripley
and Annie Larson, with live musical back-up by Jack "Applejack"
Walroth. Ripley and Larson have toured nationally and have been performing
together for over 20 years.
DIVA CABARET AT ORIGINAL JOE'S hosted by Sean Owens with Don Seaver
on piano
On the Sixes, nestled in the Cabaret Room at the city's favorite nightspot
since 1936, promises fresh perspective on the city's seismic centennial,
and a night of "only-in-San Francisco" entertainment. A rotating
line-up of fabulous talent ensures a new & fresh show every night! Come
see the likes of Beth Wilmurt, Denmo Ibrahim, Janet Roitz, Leigh Crow, L.A.
Hyder, Mia Paschal, Sharon Walton, Thessaly Lerner, Lara Bruckmann, Alison
Bloomfield and EXIT's own Christina Augello.
REVOLUTIONARY LETTERS by Diane di Prima
DIVA favorite, celebrated Beat poet Diane di Prima, will read from the new
edition of her classic Revolutionary Letters to be published in 2006. At
last year's DIVAfest, di Prima read from her epic poem, Loba, hailed as
the great female counterpart to Alan Ginsberg's Howl.
REPORTER GIRL by Laura Rohrman, a workshop reading directed by Adriana
Baer.
This ficitionalized dramatic work, written by Laura Rohrman, the granddaughter
of Brenda Starr creator Dale Messick, is based on the life of Messick as
she made her way in the male-dominated field of cartooning in the 1930s
and '40s in NYC.
DREAM HOUSE -- a workshop reading of a solo show with Elizabeth Fuller, written by Elizabeth Fuller and Conrad Bishop, presented as a work in progress reading. In the throes of her Inner Clown, Elizabeth with the help of her six sisters, all named Elizabeth - Liz the Developer, Bessie the Plumber, Beth the Dreamer, Bette the Inspector, Liza the Gambler, and Lizzie the Slut - tries to construct an edifice of identity that will stand up by itself. It's about identity and the trials of stage-managing the jangled ensemble inhabiting one's skull. It's funny, weird, intense and autobiographical, but we leave it to you to guess what's real and what's fiction.
BACK SEAT by L.A. Hyder
Visual/performance artist L.A. Hyder will construct an interactive sculpture
piece at the EXIT Café at 156 Eddy Street. Entitled Back Seat, Ms.
Hyder's piece is the back seat of a car tricked out to represent the fabled
teenage love-nest of the 50s. An audio element will present women's real
and/or imagined tales celebrating sexuality, along with the music that triggers
them. Viewers can opt to participate by writing in Diva or Dude diaries
of their own escapades while sitting in the "Back Seat."
A 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?
AMBIVALENT GENESES written and directed by Sarah McKereghan
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?
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. 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.
THE ABORTION SHOW... or UHH... BORTION SHOW... written and performed
by Abby Schachner
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.
BEAUTY AND THE BREAST by Liebe Wetzel and Lunatique Fantastique
A work-in-progress based on interviews with women who are are survivors
of breast cancer. Liebe will speak about the piece 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 is planned
to premiere at DIVAfest 2006.
LOBA by Diane di Prima
The poem LOBA, a visionary epic quest for the reintegration of the feminine,
was 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.
BUT WHAT HAVE YOU DONE FOR ME LATELY? by Myrna Lamb
A staged reading of Myrna Lamb's 1970 pro choice play celebrating women's
liberation -- 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.
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.
This depression era saga follows legendary depression era hobo, feminist, and anarchist Bertha Thompson, a rugged hard living woman who rode the rails in the 1930s, on a journey from hobo to grifter, from prostitute to activist.
DRAMA QUEENS COME CLEAN: The Secret Lives of Women Written by Lory
Stewart, Cindy Baker & Justine Fields
Three actresses and one drag queen take the stage and recreate experiences
inspired by their lives in a series of monologues and scenes that the Austin
American-Statesman describes as "a robust and broad gyno comedy.".
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LAST OF THE RED HOT DADAS by Kerry Reid starring Christina Augello
The true story of Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Dada's unsung heroine,
as she reflects on the nature of art, gender relationships and the price
to be paid for telling the truth about both.
LOVE DANCES by Tara Brandel and Mna Rua Dance Productions
In the face of our present wars and conflicts, Love Dances mixes movement,
songs, images and spoken word to celebrate our incredible human capacity
to love, and sends out a message of hope in difficult times. s
THE NEW DISTRICT MANAGER by Cameron Galloway, directed by Meredith
Eldred and Libby O'Connell
Executrix Catherine Honeycutt has abandoned her sex-- quite literally --
but it's still getting gigs! Determined suitor Frank goes on a montage-laden
quest to track down the elusive Genitalia non grata, while
nosy waiters and villainous doctors claw for stage time in this post-feminist
B-movie burlesque of free range femininity.
TALKING MACHINE by the ensemble directed by Erica Blue
"Papa the box is talking to me, this thing is cursed ... this thing
is blessed." A dance/silent film/opera epic created in a Neo Realistic
Felini inspired world, an odyssey of confused beauty, blind optimism and
bread. Post War II, Italy, a group of people are drawn together by the Talking
Machine which arrives mysteriously in their court yard and it begins speaking
to each of them, evoking dreams, fears, and loves. In the end they resurrect
hope surrounded by grapes.
A TINGLE TANGLE CABARET with Janet Roitz and Billy Philadelphia, directed
by Beth Wilmurt, choreographer Chris Black
An evening in which a dame and a piano player trip the light fantastic through
a batch of hot, cool and crooked numbers.
THE ART OF ETIOLATION by Mia Paschal
A film directed by Mia Paschal, director of photography Brad Cooreman, sound
design by Yvette Janine Jackson and original music by Ray's Vast Basement
and Idris Ackamoor. Chaotic Heart Films. Paschal portrays a struggling black
actress who has survived an abusive childhood and isolated adulthood by
lying. Through this exploration, she learns that achieving truth in her
art is inseparable from living truthfully in her life.
"MAMA, WHAT DO YOU DO?" and other photos by Emilie Valentine
Readings from THE WOMEN ON DEATH ROW PROJECT by Kim Fowler and John
Warren
An evening of reading and dialogue, based on interviews, court transcripts,
and news items dealing with women and capital punishment.
OBJETS DE PASSION: THE FLUIDITY OF LESBIAN FEMME by Happy Hyder
A series of vignettes formed by this lesbian femme's views on life from
early training to be a good girl (with the music that accompanied it) to
the challenges and rewards of polyamory and butch/femme attraction.
Performance alchemist Liebe Wetzel and her award-winning puppetry ensemble tell the story of a family caught in the national hysteria that led to the internment of Japanese Americans during WW II.
"It's rare enough to find a company dedicated to serious puppet theater for adults, but Wetzel and her collaborators already seem poised to tackle even more complex and detailed narratives. Don't miss this exceptional, intelligent, singular work." -- SF BAY GUARDIAN
TOASTED Written and Performed by Elisa DeCarlo
After a drunken party, comedienne Elisa DeCarlo checks her email and discovers
a shocking, detailed confession of murder. The true story from the women
at the center of the case that made international headlines, including The
New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and "Dateline NBC." "Brightly
comic, painfully brave, and ultimately, terribly tragic" -- SF CHRONICLE.
EINSTEIN'S DAUGHTER'S CABARET. Created and Performed by Kim Epifano with Tara Brandel and Sarah Luella Baker, sound by Rodney Johnson.
An Excerpt from Einstein's Daughter with a new work in progress. Kim Epifano brings her trademark movement theatre and incendiary presence to the DIVAfest stage. "In Kim Epifano's hands the abstract becomes personal and the intellectual, physical…. The passion - which sometimes approaches ecstasy - with which Epifano translates ideas onto the stage sets her works soaring" -- SF BAY GUARDIAN
TINCTURE by Sean Owens
A diaphanous set of exchanges between six women, whose individual views
on color and causality influence the group's trajectory and the Collective
Unconscious. TINCTURE is a foxtrot between two vanguards of libidinous feminism.
A visual feast for the minds eye.
WINTERKILL Written and Performed by Denise B. Flemming
Each year during the hunting season, innocent fawns are slaughtered; it
is called the time of the WINTERKILL. "A tour de force and a scalding
hot script!" -- BRAINERD DAILY DISPATCH "Pure diva, delivering
a powerhouse, grueling performance" -- SF CHRONICLE
AGROOF: an Odyssey of Amorous Adventures in B flat. Created and Performed
by Monkeyhouse
Boston's wig wearin', globe trottin‚ dance theater collective, perform
an exciting assortment of sexy satirical solos and duets exploring the ubiquitous
rituals of mating.
"Jaunty physical and comic skills support [MONKEYHOUSE] as they pile
on all manner of fun… their sensuous display of flesh amid wearable
art seemed at once pointedly fabricated and unselfconscious" -- THE
VILLAGE VOICE
CABARET REBEL Written and Performed by Beth Wilmurt
An evening of cabaret with its shoes kicked off and top button undone -
cool, quirky, and sexy good! "Wilmurt's quicksilver and velvet voice
and wacky innocence seduces us," SF Chronicle "A remarkably charming,
uniquely talented performer" -- OAKLAND TRIBUNE
BOX CAR BERTHA by Kerry Reid, performed by Christina Augello
Reading from a new one person play about the famous activist who rode the
rails in the 1930's. A rugged woman's hard living depression era saga.
STRETCH MARKS : Growing Into Motherhood Written and Performed by The
Drama Mamas -- Sarah Cluf, Jodi Schiller, Christine Armand DiBiasi, and
Christine Garofoli
The Drama Mamas' dramatic collage of the contradictory facets of motherhood.
You'll laugh, you'll cry, and when you get home, you'll call your mother!When
we formed the Drama Mamas our intention was clear-to bring our stories of
motherhood to the stage. We didn't want to just stand up on stage and talk
about how wonderful our kids were or whine about how hard it was to be a
mommy in this day and age (okay, well, we're doing a little of that.). The
intention, however, was deeper-to give life to some of the aspects of motherhood
that many people don't talk about.
Stage Door by Edna Ferber & George Kaufman, a reading to benefit
DIVAfest
Join us at the New York boarding house of Mrs. Orcutt, where hopes and ambitions
of sixteen wanna-be actresses who have come there to pursue careers are
hilariously revealed. A cast of DIVAfest all stars give this classic drama
the once over.
PHOTOS BY LAURIE GALLANT
Celebrating womanhood from minx to matriarch, virgin to vamp, DIVAfest emblazoned
EXIT Theatre's four San Francisco stages for two weeks of plays, solos,
cabarets and comedy with a "female persuasion" and featuring a
bevy of the very finest post modern prima donnas.
Follow the outrageous exploits of the Baroness Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, Dada's unsung heroine, as she reflects on the nature of art, gender relationships and the price to be paid for telling the truth about both. Pre-Punk by 60 years and perhaps our first feminist performance artist the Baroness, sewed tea balls to her skirts, and wore postage stamps in place of rouge-- and, once she was through mocking Duchamp, came west to haunt the streets of Greenwich Village. "The first American Dada…she is the only one living anywhere who dresses Dada, loves Dada, lives Dada."- Little Review 1922
SONGS ABOUT LIFE & DEATH & LOVE & INSECTS Written and
Performed by Amy X Neuburg
"Neuburg's vocals are a miracle; she is, by turns, a frigid dispenser
of cold truths, a siren and an eccentric." -- San Jose Metro One-woman
techno-circus Amy X loops and layers a harmonious melee of musical styles
into a vibrantly theatrical transformation of the musical revue. ( Second
weekend W/special guest, dancer/choreographer Nina Haft performs "The
Ring", bullfigting at it's best!) "Neuburg makes music whose dizzy
mix of complexity, accessibility, and intensity are matched by few... Laurie
Anderson would be proud." -- Musician magazine
DIALOGUE BETWEEN A PROSTITUTE AND HER CLIENT by Dacia Maraini and directed by Sabrina Klein.
It should be a simple exchange: money for sex. In this exchange, it's not so clear who's taking whom for what or for how much. Virginity, rape, mother's milk, homoerotic fantasies, violence, literature, politics, money. It sure gets complicated sometimes, doesn't it?
DELLICIOUS: LILY MARCHAND RISES AGAIN Written and Performed by Libby O'Connell. Long-deceased legendary star of stage and screen Miss Lily Marchand brings her nightclub act direct from the 10th circle of Hades to the stage at the EXIT Cafe. Lily is on a mission, belting out brassy anthems and smoldering ballads in an evening of song and sass to secure her place in history.
CHAMPION! Written and Performed by Thessaly Lerner. Three cheers for this spirited solo dedicated to the cheerleading crusade of Mindy McGillicuty, a grown-up little girl who never played Annie. Can pluck and a ponytail make up for psychotic obsession? Imagine Norma Desmond descending the staircase with pom-poms and you're at the opening of CHAMPION!
BODY TALK: BOOBS, BUTTS & THIGHS by Buffy Charlet. Live Onstage! The immovable objectification of beauty myths goes head to head with the unstoppable struggle for self-acceptance in a battle as old as foundation garments, as American as apple pie and as universal as cellulite. A Staged Reading.
MADAM NOIR'S FANDANGO Underbelly Erogeny Odyssey from the Carnival
of Chaos led by Andrea Terry & Mark Bunnell
".... the sonic equivalent of scratching an itch I couldn't reach...."
--Bay Guardian
A western-Sci-Fi-cabaret catapults a band of crazed vaudevillians into a
wild night of Musical Madness. Through song and dance, circus arts and cabaret
we make the epic journey into the divine and treachorous spirit of the Diva.
"...like driving a race car into Alice's Wonderland. You can suddenly
be bombarded by images and seduced by the poetry of your surroundings."
--Goldendale Sentinal
THE WOMEN, a DIVAfest Benefit Reading by Clare Boothe Luce.
A very special staged reading of this seminal feminist comedy, starring
the collected stars of our festival, plus a cadre of celebrity performers
from around the bay. Fans of the film and stage play should be on hand to
hear this uproarious all-female farce played out as only the ladies of DIVAFest
can do it.
NOCTURNE, paintings by Teresa Moore, always articulate the universal truth about women, against backdrops ranging from bordellos and boudoirs to skylines and champagne socials. Ms. Moore's "Nocturne", the visual icon of DIVAFest, is one in a sumptuous pageant of her sensual and supremely female paintings celebrating women, whether careworn or carefree.