GRRRLS
IN THE POLIS
a performance / conference / symposium
for democratized theatre-making and reclaimed narratives
Coming to Manhattan on April 24th, GRRRLS IN THE POLIS is a one day conference centered on democratizing classical theatre and mythology, featuring a performance of the interactive play Parthenos: Girls Like Us, followed by theatrical devising workshops. GRRRLS IN THE POLIS invokes the past by hearkening back to ancient Greek practices of theatre and democracy, and simultaneously pushes us towards the future by focusing on narratives which are both ignored within the western theatrical canon and largely underrepresented in political processes.
Welcome, grrrls!
Registration for grrrls in the polis is OPEN! Apply now - spots are limited!!
FOLLOW ALONG WITH US AS WE BUILD THIS CONFERENCE:
WHAT WE'RE READING
- The Theatre of the Polis by Oddone Longo
- Riot Grrrl Manifesto by Kathleen Hanna
- Athens in Pieces: The Tragedy of Democracy by Simon Critchley
- Handbook for Artists Working in Community by Springboard Arts
- The Audre Lorde Questionnaire to Oneself created by Divya Victor
what is olivia doing?
thinking about the classical role of "the chorus" and how that relates to democracy
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
is there ever a time when all of the team members are available for a meeting at once?
MAYBE NOT
The Grrrls:
Ophelia | Joan of Arc |
---|---|
The Virgin Mary | Persephone |
Lavinia | associate producer, assistant director |
graphic and sound design | Director/Playwright/ Producer |
1/13/22
Zoom Rehearsal!
- read through current draft of parthenos
- brainstormed about end of play
- talked about our feelings
2/14/22
Fundraiser Launched!
Yes! YES! YESSSS! We launched our indiegogo - please support us! We have no pride! We need your money to make this happen! Click on this eyeball to support/share with your conspirators:
also happy valentines day or whatever
2/17/22
continued workshop development!
The Audre Lorde Questionnaire to Oneself:
Have you ever answered...?
1)
What are the words you do not have yet? [Or, “for what do you not have words, yet?”]
3)
“What are the tyrannies you swallow day by day and attempt to make your own, until you will sicken and die of them, still in silence?” [List as many as necessary today. Then write a new list tomorrow. And the day after.]
2)
What do you need to say? [List as many things as necessary]
4)
If we have been “socialized to respect fear more than our own needs for language and definition”, ask yourself: “What’s the worst that could happen to me if I tell this truth?”* [So, answer this today. And every day.]
This questionnaire is adapted from “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” collected in The Cancer Journals.
*This question is borrowed from Naomi Wolf’s Commencement address at Scripp’s College, “A Woman’s Place.”
This resource was created by Divya Victor for students of her Creative Writing courses at Nanyang Technological University in January 2016.
Madison working very hard on workshop development.
2/27/22
partho-notes
"...theater is the place where the tensions, conflicts and ambiguities of democratic life are played out in front of the people. It is the place where those excluded from Athenian democracy are presented on stage: foreigners, women and slaves. Theater is the night kitchen of democracy."
- Simon Critchley, Athens in Pieces: The Tragedy of Democracy
quote from Marie's workshop proposal:
"Their own prophesy:
To trust it by moving in an improvisation where their only concern is what do I really want to do now within a structured environment, embodying that impulse and then processing/feeling what comes up when you listen to yourself."
3/11/22 - 3/19/22: Olivia on research trip to Greece!
...THE JOURNEY WILL CONTINUE! CHECK BACK SOON!
disembodies
olivia is thinking about the ways in which our cultural understandings of teenage girls have been preserved in broken statues of their bodies
she is also thinking about the beauty and sacredness of ancient and broken things
about walking on the same stones as euripides
about the way we were taught to tell stories
to make democracies
to grow up
and whether there are whole other worlds of being and communicating that we have never sculpted