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Women's Theatre

Women's Theatre image
Parent Issue
Day
9
Month
August
Year
1974
OCR Text

Somewhere along the line, we women lost our heritage and even lost part of ourselves. Because we were women, society required we be less than whole human beings.
A women's workshop has put together a play to express this victimization of women by our culture. Created, directed, and played by women, the piece re-creates our heritage, both the best and the worst that we have been forced to be.
Called "Five Abreast Going Abroad", the alternative theatre production is being presented by the Summer Repertory Theatre of Ann Arbor, which has done a series of plays at bast Quad over the past month.
"Five Abreast Going Abroad" takes five separate "crimes" which society has perpetrated to keep women down, and is performed by five women. The play alternates between guerilla theatre and more down-tempo poetry and monologues. It combines original material by the workshop with pieces by women artists, from Sylvia Plath to Marilyn Monroe.
Opening on the "crime" of theft and deceit, we learn quickly what we already know -- that woman has been annihilated from the pages of history, and slandered whenever she achieved over all the obstacles put in her path. There is Atlanta of classic mythology, the only woman to travel with the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, only to be forgotten from the roll of the ship. And who could forget Eve, the "imperfect" human made of Adam's rib, which gave woman a bad name from the beginning of time.
Not all the experiences are so far from our own, and it is often hard to tell whether a section is funny of sad. Do you remember reading "Teen Magazine," to find out what your favorite star was looking for in a girl? Or the question columns in the glamour magazines, telling how to be the perfect, popular teenager? Or maybe the advice column warning of the importance of saving yourself for Mr. Right who you would obviously marry before you slept with? And in between, we are reminded of the women who didn't quite fit with the expectations, the Sylvia Plaths and the Zelda Fitzgeralds.
"Five Abreast Going Abroad" is more than just a play; it is a total emotional experience. As a woman. you cannot escape all the past has done to keep you down, and ot the tremendous, continuing effort that is needed to overcome that socializing process.
But the play is not just for women. It also offers men a chance to see a bit more clearly the oppression that women must face, and the reason behind a strong human liberation movement.
The play still has two more performances, and for $1.25 is a real bargain for an entertaining and enlightening two hours. It can be seen at 8 pm, Friday and Saturday, August 8-9, and also at a matinee performance at 2 pm on Saturday August 9 only. All performances are in East Quad's auditorium.

--Ellen Hoffman