Not Your Granny’s Revolution

Remaining Performances: Wednesday, July 22 at 6:15 pm.  Thursday, July 23 at 8:00 pm.

They Say: A storytelling play created by Laura Zam (“A name to know”-The Washington Post) and ensemble cast.  What does it mean to be a woman in today’s world?  Five females find revolution in a Paris tryst, a royal beheading, and fighting AIDS.

Ann’s Take: Long ago when I was in college, my good friend began embracing the term “chick” as an appropriate way to describe a new generation of feminism.  I think “chick” is a rather brilliant signifier, describing female-specific content that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Plus, this coinage reclaims the word from its more demeaning form (an activity socio-political-activist-types adore).   So, at the risk of scaring off male audience members and pissing off old-guard feminists, I’ve decided Not Your Granny’s Revolution is a chick show—that is, a show about chicks who have moved past the sensitive diatribes and onto the self-aware humor of personal discovery.

The show features seven vignettes by five female writers/performers, all participants in Laura Zam’s local solo performance lab.  (Zam, though, does not appear in the show; nor do her stories.)  While each performer’s technical ability varies and some pieces are reminiscent of a college Women’s Studies open mic, the content is captivating.  A common theme of female self-reliance holds the pieces together, but beyond that the stories are wildly different – engagement stories, activist stories, childhood stories.  No piece grows stale.  No piece is self-indulgent.  And yes, even men will find them funny.

See it if: You like good stories told by witty women.

Skip it if: You think the theater has enough female voices now that Eve Ensler gave us The Vagina Monologues.