Posted on 03/02/2003 4:54:46 AM PST by NewHampshireDuo
On Monday, women across America and in more than 50 countries worldwide will begin denying their husbands sex until there is no longer any threat of war.
Relax, guys, the women are just actresses, participating in an international theater event organized by the Lysistrata Project. “Lysistrata,” an ancient Greek comedy written by Aristophanes, is being performed globally on Monday as a collective protest against a war with Iraq.
“ ‘Lysistrata’ is one of the oldest anti-war plays,” said Daniel Patterson, an associate professor of theater at Keene State College. “It’s about 2,300 years old. It’s just amazing when you read it that so many things they deal with are the same as now.”
In the play, women from opposing states, tired of losing their children in battle, unite to end the Peloponnesian War by withholding sex from their partners. Ultimately, the men agree to lay down their weapons and work diplomatically toward achieving peace.
To Kathryn Blume and Sharron Bower, the New York actresses who founded the Lysistrata Project, the play seemed the perfect vehicle to express anti-war sentiment.
“Universal stories such as ‘Lysistrata’ bring people together; they remind us of how alike we all are,” Bower said. “If there is any hope for harmony between people from different cultures, sharing stories is a great place to begin.”
The women were inspired to take political action by Theaters Against War, or THAW, a group of New York-based theater artists that chose Sunday as a day for theaters to stage anti-war protests. In support of that group, Bower and Blume decided to hold a “Lysistrata” reading on Monday and then began wondering what would happen if people around the world did the same.
Beginning in early January, the women began spreading the word about the Lysistrata Project to actors and directors they knew via e-mail and a hastily created Web site (www.lysistrataproject.com). Their acquaintances forwarded the information to others, and so on and so on, and now nearly 850 readings have been scheduled in more than 50 countries and all 50 states.
The New York City and Los Angeles performances have attracted performers such as Mercedes Ruehl, Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, Christine Lahti, Eric Stoltz and Ed Begley Jr., among others. These actors join an already long list of celebrities, such as Martin Sheen, Janeane Garofalo and Danny Glover, who have taken center stage in the anti-war movement.
Why so much interest on the part of actors to take part in peace protests?
“Actors by their very nature tend to be compassionate creatures. This is because we are in the business of putting ourselves in the other guy’s shoes,” Bower said. “So when I hear that the United States intends to inflict ‘shock and awe’ warfare on a populated area, my first thoughts rush to the frightened woman on the ground in Baghdad who just wants to have a life and care for her family.”
The Lysistrata Project typifies the activist adage that people should think globally but act locally. Nine readings are scheduled statewide in New Hampshire. Most of the performances are free, although any money donated at the events will be given to local peace organizations.
Marybeth Bentwood, organizer of both the Concord and Durham events, hopes to use the occasion to call attention to the upcoming trial of three women who were charged with trespassing on BAE Systems property in Nashua during a protest in December.
“It is my hope that the ‘Lysistrata’ reading and performance will bring attention to the war resistance movement as well as these three brave women who are standing up for world peace,” Bentwood said.
Keene State’s Patterson heard of the event two weeks ago while attending a college theater festival in Utah.
“Making a political statement, rediscovering a work, and being part of a worldwide effort – all of it works for me,” he said.
Because Keene State is currently producing an all-woman play, none of the college’s female theater students were available to participate. So Patterson asked staff and faculty to perform a staged reading instead.
“I don’t think any of us think of ourselves as political,” he said. “It’s a way to make our voices heard. Normally, we don’t. People want to make a statement who wouldn’t have before.”
Patterson downloaded one of several adaptations of the play that the Lysistrata Project makes available online. He chose a 45-minute version but decided to punch it up a bit. He said he has problems with the original Greek comedies, finding them stilted and a little dated. Oh, and they’re not that funny either.
“But other than that . . . ,” he said with a laugh. He promises that his version will be funny.
Bower is all for using comedy to get a point across.
“The Lysistrata Project wants the world to know that President Bush is not speaking for all Americans,” she said. “If we have to use humor and sex to make that point, then I say, ‘Bring out the papier-mache phalluses.’ ”
Oh barf. Actors by their very nature tend to be self-serving, self-involved, self-indulgent, publicity seeking naifs.
And this is different from marriage....how?
It figures there'd be a quote from Clinton in this piece.
Waiter! A glass of ipecac, if you please.
Make it a large glass.
That is one of the finer examples of self-congratulatory nonsense to come out of the performing arts community, considering its brevity.
Lefty stooges.
"No justice, no piece!"
He forgot to mention that it is a comedy.
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