[] New Perspectives Theatre Company
Melody Brooks, Artistic Director presents
GIRL POWER
7 short plays developed by writers in the Women’s Work LAB 
Monday, August 18 – Friday, August 22, 2008
 
Dyke Patrol by Andrea Lepcio, Directed by Elysa Marden
Barbie and Kens recreate the gay liberation movement during that Neverland between Stonewall and AIDs, breast cancer, alcoholism, workaholism, and terrorism.  Dyke Patrol celebrates the joy of discovering and being exactly who you are.
 
"Ever See a Fat Chinese?"  by Christine Toy Johnson, Directed by Elysa Marden
Lexy Lee has a sneaking suspicion she's "large for her breed". She'll do anything for a major-league makeover. Or will she?
 
The Girl in the Mirror by Kim Merrill, Directed by Melissa Maxwell
A woman reflects on her past while facing the future.
 
GIRL/POWER by Zetta Elliott, Directed by Elena Araoz
The oxymoronic nature of the term is exposed in this examination of the contrasting lives of two teenage girls who are in protective custody after being "rescued" from their exploitative relationships with older men.
 
9 Steps from St. Anne’s Street by Carolyn Núr Wistrand, Directed by Elena Araoz
1850. New Orleans. When her daughter disappears, the gifted mystic, Marie Laveaux, is forced to come to terms with her choice to embrace the path of a Voodooienne in the antebellum South.
 
Power Girls Support Group by Michele Miller, Directed by Melody Brooks
We all need a little help from our friends…especially when they include Joan of Arc, Queen Esther, Shirley Temple, and the Goddess Persephone, among others.  They’re here to lend their support.  But for whom?
 
The Waiting Room by Kate Bell, Directed by Melissa Maxwell
Choice and responsibility meet at closing time at a sliding-fee women's health clinic in Brooklyn, where fifteen-year-old Dulce Ramos needs help and the voices of the past can still be heard.
 
PROGRAM A: “Ever See A Fat Chinese?”; The Waiting Room; 9 Steps from St. Anne’s Street
PROGRAM B: Dyke Patrol; Girl in the Mirror; GIRL/POWER; Power Girl Support Group
Monday, August 18th
 Opening Reception: 6:00pm
Program A: 7:00pm
Wednesday, August 20th
Program B: 7:00pm
Tuesday, August 19th
Program B: 12:00pm
Program A: 4:00pm
Thursday, August 21st
Program B: 4:00pm
Program A: 8:00pm
 
 
Friday, August 22nd
Program A & B: 4:00pm
 
All performances at New Perspectives Theatre Company,
456 West 37th Street, Ground Floor (@10th Avenue)
Tickets:  $15 (cash or check at the door; or by credit card at www.nptnyc.org)
Information/Reservations: contact@nptnyc.org
Seating is Limited, so reservations are strongly recommended!
 
The new Women’s Work LAB grows out of our 14-year-old Women’s Work Project, formerly a residency program that paired one or two writers each year with a director/dramaturge charged with bringing scripts to production quality. The LAB continues that mission, but adds more writers to a monthly workshop process. Lab members were challenged on the first day (March 7, 2008) to create a short script speaking to a theme selected by Lab Director Melody Brooks and to work to have these plays ready for public performances in August.  Melody was prompted to choose the theme of GIRL POWER after reflecting on Hillary Clinton’s Primary candidacy, and the implications - perceived and real - of how she was being portrayed and dealt with by media as a woman of power, seeking power. This provoked a lively and charged discussion with each writer sharing her thoughts and feelings about this theme/phrase. Some found it offensive, referring to “girl power” as a pseudo-feminism in which girls are overtly sexualized and women are made girls. Others took the theme literally and wrote about the freedom and strength young girls have before they learn to be “feminine” and deferential. An ardent debate over whether women should or should not use their sexuality to gain power or prestige ensued. The experience of gay women and their relationship to traditional female sexual power added another fascinating aspect to the conversation. The resulting plays are as passionate, diverse, funny, and painful as the subject itself.