I thought this might be a good place to have a running discussion on our project (fake titled Sympathy for the Single Girl for the purposes of this forum.)

Ideas, thrulines, songs to use, themes, scenes, pieces of dialogue...put them here for discussion & inclusion.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

Answers

I am taking the liberty of putting a great Jenn email here:

i had a flash. it is not writing it is an image/idea. a "what if" if you will.

what if there was a way for the entire company to play both the mother and the daughter at different times. we could build the given circumstances using the enseble . certain things (objects postures exit music ect..) would denote who was playing who when.

am i on the right track when i say i see the project in the style of paula vogels mineola twins? flashy but not campy; incredibly funny but completely thought provoking and completely original in movement (enter viewpoints.)

it might help us create narrative if we have a veiwpoints session using whatever ideas/text you have already generated. also i know a dream exercise that tricks one's subconscious mind into building performance stuff on a particular topic.

-- Anonymous, June 27, 2000

How is next Saturday for you guys during the day? I really want to do a long rehearsal (5 hours) divided into 3 hours of viewpoints w/Jenn and 2 hours of writing exercises. If we could do Saturday and Sunday, it would be great, but I'd like to do at least 1 of those days.

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2000

I would really like to spend next weekend, at least 1 day, maybe both, doing combination viewpoints/writing exercises. Let me know how your weekend days are Saturday & Sunday.

Thanks, Anne

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2000

What is the cool subconscious exercise?

I like the idea of the ensamb all playing both parts, and I wonder if there can be some built in rational for who is playing whom at what time. Nothing so stupid as "John plays angry Mary and angry Jane, and Sue plays sweet Mary and sweet Jane," but something where we could see why a particular performer was playing a particular part at a particular time. Any ideas?

-- Anonymous, June 28, 2000

Here is a possible idea that came to me today after I set an appointment for electrolysis.

Idea: the investigation of a woman's appearance and grooming as being more important than a women's health/comfort and how each woman plays her part in accepting this societal ideal (or not) and how that in turn makes some women feel guilty for taking part in these rituals but when they look at their hairy arms and chin they think it is ugly. they near die when they look at their mustache so they call to set an electrolysis appointment.

Stage set: there is a screen in the back of the stage that flashes images of body parts. The sequence would be man part woman part man part woman part ect ect. (underarms legs mustaches ect.) there would also be members of the ensemble placed around the stage (brilliantly placed by angie) doing different hair removal activities. Their action could be as real (actual shaving creams) or as abstract as we chose. It may be interesting to include some real activities and some very abstract. For instance someone may be upstage actually tweezing her brow in real time with real mirror and tweezer while someone else maybe somewhere else pantomiming waxing her legs and bikini line in a tempo that starts super slow and builds to a frenzy. This is background environment business but there would be a main story-like scene going on down stage.

Possible stories to include : I went to high school with this girl who had hemophilia - a very serious blood disease in which your blood cannot clot properly so it is possible to die if you get a cut or scrape of some sort. Anahita (that was her name) along I assume with her parents decided that she shouldnt shave her legs. I went to an all girls school and even so it was thought disgusting that she didnt shave. She was teased for it constantly. I had a friend remark how sad it was -not that she had a serious blood disease but that she was unable to shave. I remember feeling the same way. This ties into a breast cancer survival story that I read and the survivor said she was more concerned about her disfigured appearance than her life threatening illness. She in turn hated herself for being so vain but that is the way she felt. There is also a book called story of a face (something like that). I havent read it but I read a review of it and the author who had a very rare and deadly jaw cancer had to have her jaw removed at young age. The book is about her growing up disfigured and how she thinks that was a much worse fate than death. I'm sure we can all draw the link to eating disorders from here.

These are just possible ideas/thoughts. I think if we decide to take on this idea it would be important not to try to find answers or lay blame but examine the why of it all. Why do I cringe at my own leg hair but not bat an eye at a man's hairy gams? Why knowing all that I know do I still engage in these processes? Why does society want thin hairless women? Who is society? How much does each one of us buy into the whole thing? What do men think? Do they have similar physical pressures (height)?

-- Anonymous, July 01, 2000

babee

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000

feebee

-- Anonymous, August 11, 2000