SAN JOSE, CA?August 1, 2002?No rest for the wicked. After a successful run of Wendy McLeod?s Sin, Renegade Theatre Experiment presents the second show of its inaugural season?Hear Me Roar: women?s images of self. Comprised of two one-act plays and an original dance piece, Hear Me Roar celebrates women while looking unflinchingly at a society which threatens their self-worth. "Everyday we are bombarded with images of what sexy and attractive women are supposed to look like,? says artistic director Sean C. Murphy. ?These messages have devastating effects on women's sense of power and self-esteem.? The evening of theatre and dance exploring this issue opens August 21. Hear Me Roar continues to perform August 22-24 and Aug. 28-31 at Santa Clara University?s Fess Parker Studio Theatre.
The first play, Mary Gallagher?s ?Chocolate Cake,? takes two very seemingly different women (one a country girl and one a city slicker) and throws them together in a hotel room during a women?s conference. In fact, both have compulsive over-eating in common, a fact revealed in funny and poignant fashion. ??Chocolate Cake? centers on the struggle for attaining the societal goal of being Barbie and the damaging effects in has on our characters' self esteem,? says Murphy, the play?s director. ?The average woman stands 5'4", has a 36-37" bust, 29-31" waist, 40"-42" hips, is 145 lbs, and wears a dress size of 14, and yet she is told she must look like a Barbie doll. How many women do you know that are 6'0" tall, have a 39" bust, 19" waist, 33" hips, weigh 101 lbs, and wear a size 4?? The play ?Chocolate Cake? was originally produced and commissioned in 1980 by the Actors Theatre of Louisville with Kathy Bates in the cast, and later produced as part of the off-Broadway hit Win/Lose/Draw.
?Chocolate Cake? is followed by ?Inner Struggle,? a premiere dance piece by Evangeline Maynard, a founding member of Renegade Theatre Experiment. Maynard found inspiration in the dramatic pieces and her own observation of modern culture: "'Inner Struggle' deals with the perceived power of the outer beauty glorified by society and each woman's daily struggle to feel sexy, beautiful and strong inside."
The evening concludes with ?The Most Massive Woman Wins,? a powerful and celebrated one-act play by Madeleine George, directed by Elizabeth Thies. Set in the waiting room of a liposuction clinic, the play uses unconventional theatrical technique?emphasizing monologue but including playground chants?to illuminate the forces which shape self-image in women. According to Thies, ?The characters move from memories of struggles and feelings of isolation to a sense of community, support and acceptance--of each other and of themselves.? ?The Most Massive Woman Wins? premiered at the Public Theater in New York City as part of the 1994 Young Playwrights Festival.
The evening?s ensemble cast of actors and dancers includes Thies and Maynard, as well as Sarah Almazol, Iris Benson, Janine Saunders, Whitney Q. Stebbins, Katie J. Thies, and Adrianne Wilkinson. All are local actors.
RTE?s newly christened technical director Jim Gross (lighting designer for Sin) heads up a technical staff including set designer Keith Marshall (Sin), lighting designer Erin Murphy, sound designer Kevin Kelly (Sin), costume/makeup designer Adrianne Wilkinson, and props designer Danielle A. Perata.
Aug. 23rd and 29th performances will be followed by a talkback with directors, cast, and community leaders (including San Jose State professor Robin Lasser and U.C. Davis professor Kathryn Sylva). A display of photography from Ms. Lasser?s and Ms. Sylva?s Eating Disorders: Disordered Culture project will be presented in the Fess Parker lobby throughout the run.
The Renegade Theatre Experiment began in May 2001 as a group of alumni from Santa Clara University joining together to develop as actors. The group practiced monologues in a workshop format for a couple of months, but then collectively decided that--rather than auditioning for local theatre companies?they could be a local theatre company. A core group of committed ?renegades? formed the board of directors, set to work picking shows, finding venues, and planning for an uncertain future. The driving force, Sean C. Murphy, stepped forward as Artistic Director of the company. The rest of the founding board of directors includes Peter Canavese, Kevin Kelly, Keith Marshall, Evangeline Maynard, Whitney Q. Stebbins, and Blythe Thomas.
Renegade?s 2002 inaugural season kicked off in June with Sin, Wendy MacLeod?s modern morality play, which blends comedy and drama in telling the story of a woman who reevaluates her life in the wake of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake. In October, RTE mounts Stephen Malatratt?s baroque horror thriller The Woman in Black, in which the old-fashioned ghost story gets a spine-tingling, purely theatrical update.
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