Lysistration

In 2007 (ish) I wrote a feminist rock opera version of Lysistrata. Here's a breif clip of a musical rehearsal at the Venus Theatre Play Shack. this is when the space was still set predominantly for BabyPlay. It's a blackbox now. In my "Lysistrata" research I discovered that there was a group called the "Hermes Choppers". During a festival, in the middle of the night, these women went around and castrated all of the statues of Hermes in Athens. It was the only power they had in an oppressive patriarchal culture that kept them mostly locked in. Interestingly, the men funded these almost monthly festivals. I think they knew that all pressure cookers will explode if not tended to "properly". So, I wanted to tend to my own pressure cooker. Certain rap artists that objectify women and my personal experiences of producing in DC for 15 years and being mugged and threatening to be stabbed, not to mention car breakins left me want to vent a bit myself. Old Dirty Bastard took on a whole new meaning for me. The Cronian Choir of Hermes Choppers in my play were disgruntled older women who had enough! And the character of Zelda is a stoned musician. These two worlds bizarrely collide. Rock'n'roll'rumpus'fun.