Lesbian theater doesn’t just happen below 14th Street in New York City. Discover a few of the best lesbian \rtroupes.
Lesbian Theater doesn’t just happen below 14th Street in New York City. Dyke-centric performances and troupes are popping up all over North America, fulfilling our community’s desire to be heard and seen on the stage. Here are few of the best lesbian troupes:
In Vancouver, Leaping Thespians is one of the few women’s theater companies focusing on bringing the story of lesbian lives to local audiences. Aside from that group, ] it’s hard to find an exclusively lesbian theater company. However, women and feminist theatre companies that are lesbian inclusive can be found between the coasts. (leapingthespians.ca)
At Queer Girl Theatre Project in San Francisco, “We definitely fall under the queer column—all-inclusive of lesbian, queer, trans identified folks (and a couple queer men in the bunch). But we are predominantly women and the art we create is mainly influenced by queer women,” says artistic director Erin Maxwell. “We are interested in bringing new work to the stage that is based on what's going on in the world and how the queer lens may take something traditional and turn it on it's head.”
Deborah Randall, founder of Venus Theatre in Maryland says, “Our mission is to set flight to the voices of women and children. I think interesting stories for women is what is most important…And at the end of 2010 we are doing lesbian playwright Andrea Lepcio’s play Looking for the Pony which is a brilliant, brilliant piece of writing.” (venustheatre.org)
A women’s theatre company very enthusiastic about Sapphic sisters is BroadArts in Portland, Ore. Artistic Director Melinda E. Pittman says, “Each of our works so far has included lesbian characters…We also do concert tours and have many lesbian friendly songs including our hit ‘The Boy I Fell in Love with is a Girl’ (on our album Paradise Flossed),” BroadArts always has lesbian staff members, cast members, volunteers and Board members too. Says, Pittman, “We are not an exclusive lesbian group but we are absolutely lesbian and trans inclusive: in fact we refer to ourselves as ‘multi-gendered, multi-ethnic, multi-racial and multi-talented.’” (broadarts.org)
Photo: Robert Guzman
BRAVA! has a mission statement saying they are “celebrating the intersection of feminism and multiculturalism that ignites social changes and builds community.” And though they produce work written by men, being feminists, they are also lesbian inclusive and have produced works by Cherrie Moraga and Reno. (brava.org)
And a big hurray for the Women’s Theatre Project in Ft. Lauderale, Fla. Every year this company holds an Annual Lesbian Playwriting Festival. If you are in the area, the next festival will be June 2011 (Hey, lesbian playwrights, the script submission deadline for that festival, “Girls Play”, is 3/21/11. Ft. Lauderdale gals can go to the New Moon Bar, a fav local hangout after the plays for some lesbian theatre aperitif.) (womenstheatreproject.com)
Something exciting and under the national radar has been happening in Colorado for some time. In their 21st year, Vox Feminista is a multi-media performance tribe of radical feminists bent on social change through cultural revolution. With a majority of members identifying as lesbian, dyke performer, senior member and director of research, oak chezar says, “We’re [also] radical eco-feminists and very concerned with eco-justice as well. We’re warriors for the Earth, in all that we do.” Performing two original productions a year, the group tours each show for two-and-a-half months in Boulder, Denver and along the Front Range of Colorado.
What are their shows like? “What we do is radical cabaret-style theater–a multi-media mixture of drama, comedy, video, dance, and spoken word, in individual pieces as well as group pieces,” chezar says. After prevailing for over two decades, chezar reports: “Vox has embraced the trans-movement, as well as dealt more with intersectionality of ‘isms’, besides the obvious sexism and hetero-sexism. Race and class must be addressed as we join activists throughout the globe in unified and diverse struggles against capitalist, imperialist patriarchy.”. 1Memes is a theory on how we change and the way ideas spread—it’s how information moves from mind to mind. (voxfeminista.org)