Girl Theater (Bad as We Want to Be)
The National Pastime Theater stage has been painted to mimic the marble walls and stately ceiling of the former speakeasy it was, so the women’s rapid appearances and disappearances seem to take place in a generic no-place and no-time, freeing the performers from complicated scene shifts. The actors use only their voices, their bodies, and a few simple props and costumes to establish characters, dismantle cultural stereotypes, and evoke an almost confrontational goofiness that catches the audience and keeps it hooked until the last sentimental scene, which celebrates women’s journey into the continuing adventures of middle age.
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To a great extent these monologues are about power and submission, but you’ll leave the theater laughing. There’s no hint of polemical stoicism, no despairing catalog of social injustice; equally refreshing, there’s no airheaded kowtowing to sexist sitcom stereotypes. Director Lorrie Sparrow has managed to bring out in each monologue a tantalizing mix of bald self-revelation and comic artifice, which makes the evening both funny and pointed. The ironic mix of coy “girl” rhetoric and entr’acte shtick with the performers’ straightforward playfulness makes this a piece of feminist theater that’s also about the game of pleasure, even as it tells stories about transcending a culture that renders women invisible after the age of 40. Disarmed by the circus of silliness, we’re able to see and appreciate both the parody and the self-aware empowerment just below the surface of the feminine facade. Girl Theater is a cabaret seduction that succeeds through goodwill, good writing, and quickly shifting, smart-ass performances.
