The Happiest Medium » The Dirty Blondes

The Dirty Blondes Talk About SEX

Karen Tortora-Lee — Fri, 23 Sep 2016 22:04:57 +0000

I will take any opportunity to keep Mae West‘s memory alive here on THM - I’ve worshiped her since I was a child. Not just a film actress, West was a pioneer of the stage who didn’t wait around for parts to be written for her. Nor did she shy away from the subject matter that interested her most – sex. So it just stands to reason that she would write a vehicle for herself which she could star in – and title it bluntly.

Almost a century later, I’m absolutely ecstatic that The Dirty Blondes will present a staged reading of Mae West’s infamous stage play, SEX, for a limited engagement September 29-October 2 at UNDER St. Marks, directed by Courtney Laine Self. Written by West almost 90 years ago, SEX is about a sharp-witted prostitute from Montreal’s Red Light District looking for true love. It was initially shut down in 1927 during its Broadway run, and West was jailed for “lewdness and corrupting the youth.”

I got to chat with Ashley Jacobson, the Artistic Director of The Dirty Blondes, who took a minute out of her hectic schedule to talk about sex, SEX, how some things never change – and how the things that DO change are not always what you think.

It is SO GREAT to see someone take this great play out of the trunk, dust it off, and give it a good shine. I’ve been a Mae West fan since the age of 8, so literally grew up knowing about Mae West, her work and her mission. But why don’t you go ahead and tell us a little bit about how you came to know about SEX and what made it seem like the perfect script to do as a staged reading?

Ashley Jacobson: I always grew up knowing about Mae West as well, but mostly just about her stardom/Hollywood Fame. I came across her book of plays on Amazon one day when I was looking for plays by women, and was so confused! I had no idea she had been a playwright, let alone one that was produced on Broadway. Then I just fell down the research rabbit hole and became more and more impressed by her and excited by the play’s history. She was the patron saint bad-ass we have been looking for! As a company with the name “Dirty Blondes” we are clearly interested in playing off people’s perceptions of femininity and sexuality and challenging these notions with surprising theater. Mae West literally embodies everything we think about ourselves as a company, so it seemed like the perfect thing to explore.

We also wanted to do it as a reading because we wanted it to be presented as a conversation starter, rather than a perfectly polished piece. There is a lot of meat in her play and a LOT to talk about – in terms of the play itself and what Mae West meant by all of it. There are also some problematic elements, including the way race is discussed in the play. So we wanted to present it and make sure we had the opportunity to provide the context and conversation around it. A reading seemed like the best way to accomplish all that.

There’s a lot that’s changed in the 90 years since SEX was seen by its original audience. Obviously what was considered shocking and scandalous back then is almost yawn-inducing now. Does this script hold up? And in the parts where it may not, are you playing it straight, or giving a bit of a wink-and-nod to the audience?

Ashley: The script holds up! Not just for its salaciousness, but Mae wrote some really interesting characters in her play and good characters will always hold up. The story itself, about redemption and about this woman finding her way to a new life, is a timeless story. We’re playing the script straight, letting it speak for itself but also being completely conscious of things that might be considered problematic NOW. The play still needs a “trigger warning” – and not for the same reasons it was considered problematic 90 years ago. There is a lot of talk of violence against women, some racist language – these things were considered fine then, but they certainly aren’t now. Mae West captured a moment in time with this play, and showed us how it was for women in the 20s. We’re interested in exploring that much more than the raunchiness of the story – which, you’re right, isn’t anything to bat an eye at now.

Mae West was a pioneer – a feminist long before the feminist movement. If she was around today, what updates do you think she’d be making to her work in general? And more directly – how different would SEX be if she were to write it in 2016?

Ashley: Wow! What a question! You can see that Mae West progressed as a feminist even in her own life. By the time she reached Hollywood she was one of the biggest advocates for including people of color in her films, and when she was on Broadway she insisted on casting gay & lesbian actors, even though they weren’t allowed in the union. I don’t know if I can speculate on the type of artist she would be now – although I’m sure she would be basking, enjoying the fearlessness of some fellow female performers in the comedy and TV arena – but I honestly don’t know if SEX would be all that different. I would hope it would have a better take on race relations now, but I think it would still focus on how women are continuously reduced to the lowest common denominator. I think it would still talk about the struggle to find empowerment in female sexuality, while avoiding being defined by it. Violence against women is still a serious issue, human trafficking and unfair treatment of sex workers are all important issues now and she sheds some serious light on them in her play.

The Dirty Blondes embody so much of what Mae West was herself – a feisty, strong female doing it all – creatively – herself. Talk to me about what it would be like if you could bring her back and have her come see your staged reading. Do you think she’d be honored? Pleased? Or a little threatened even?

Ashley: Oh God, that would be incredible. (Also thank you for the very nice description!). I would hope she would be honored and excited for us. I would hope that she would see how she paved the way for us to be more fearless and unapologetic – to create the theater that we aren’t seeing anywhere else. She might be a little overwhelmed by how much we intend to dissect the work in our talkbacks but I hope she would see that we are doing that because we believe that she had so much to offer; that her play, although it was widely panned by critics during its time, is actually a full and fruitful story with so much to say about being a woman then AND now. I think Mae West, were she alive today, would be a huge proponent of sisterhood and supporting women artists. There is room for all of us, and I believe that Mae West believes that. She wrote roles for herself and then cast as many people as humanly possible in her plays – she was an artists’ artist.

Finally – staged readings are fantastic. I’ve seen some where you forget you’re not watching an actual play. However, there’s always hope for bigger and better, right? In which case I’m wondering – does The Dirty Blondes have any hopes of doing a full-out production of SEX if this reading goes well?

Ashley: I guess we’ll have to see, but I think the fact that its a reading is a really big part of what we’re doing. We have scheduled some incredible talkbacks with current and retired Sex Workers, Feminist Burlesque Dancers, and an incredible Mae West historian. We really wanted to place the play at the center of a larger conversation – and sometimes you can’t do that in a full production. So presenting the piece as kind of a work-in-progress is important to us. But who knows, if we get the lightning to hit just right, there could be room for bigger aspirations!

Thanks so much for not only answering these questions, but for bringing this back to the stage. I can’t tell you how excited I am to know that new audiences will be seeing this work – even (if only for now) as just a reading!

Ashley: Thank you for such thought-provoking questions!

~~~

For a little extra fun, I’m going to leave you with some Mae West Drunk History courtesy of The Dirty Blondes themselves. Take it away, gals …

Mae West Drunk History from The Dirty Blondes on Vimeo.

~~~

FRIGID NEW YORK @ HORSE TRADE
IN ASSOCIATION WITH
THE DIRTY BLONDES

PRESENT

MAE WEST’S SEX
directed by Courtney Laine Self

September 29-October 2

UNDER St. Marks
94 St. Marks Place
(between 1 st Avenue and Avenue A)
Performances: Thursday through Sunday at 7pm
Tickets: $17
CLICK HERE to purchase

Talkback Schedule:

Kick off the opening night with some bad ass feminist poetry by Maya Osborne and guests, and stay after the show to grab a drink and talk to our amazing cast.

Friday, September 30
Native New Yorker LindaAnn Loschiavo is a journalist, dramatist and Mae West Historian.

Saturday, October 1
Juniper Fleming previously directed, produced, and performed in an all sex worker revival of SEX, at Dixon Place Theater this past June.

Sunday, October 2
Veronica Varlow is a siren born of the 1940s Fantasy of Pinup Girls and Femme Fatales. Beguiling and beautiful, Varlow weaves a spell upon her audiences like none other.

The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Karen Tortora-Lee — Wed, 20 Jun 2012 18:08:15 +0000

It’s almost impossible to imagine that someone could use Bret Easton Ellis’ American Psycho as source material for a play and both do the original theme justice while simultaneously create something completely new that doesn’t just ape the original. And yet Ashley Jacobson’s The American Play does just that – not only gives a nod to American Psycho but goes one further and deepens the richness of the original, heightens the irony, darkens the humor and updates the flavor to address the passing of the last 20 years. The American Play pays homage in a way that both manages to celebrate the original work and — quite frankly — leaves it in the dust.

To say that I’m a fan of the book (and subsequent movie) American Psycho is a stretch – rather, I was a student of it … but nowhere near as dedicated as the two main characters of The American Play – Luis (Shane Jensen) and Tim (Jimmy Dailey) who meet at a critical time in both their lives. In terms of trappings, Luis is an updated Patrick Bateman – a well dressed, caustic observer of his surroundings who makes brilliant deductions about his fellow travellers and reduces everyone to a cog in the constantly churning wheel. Tim, however, has the soul of Bateman, which is a far scarier prospect.

The Robert Palmer Girls

Director Alexandra Siladi’s dark and moody staging deepens the jaded view of the men’s microcosm: seeing the world through their eyes the stage is barely illuminated, the nondescript crowd is made up of seductively black-clad women who remain anonymous and interchangeable behind their ominous cellophane masks. These women rarely speak, they often move in unison and can be reminiscent (somewhat ironically – perhaps somewhat intentionally) of the Robert Palmer girls. They are as blank, as choreographed and as “Simply Irresistible” – though of course the ironic twist is that even the most luscious among them are dismissed as too stupid, “a five” or “the fat friend”. In the one small moment when the crowd of women actually speak they do so in soundbites, and harshly … and as men. It is a brilliant, if bitter, moment.

And this is where both Jacobson’s script and Alexandra Siladi’s direction shine: Ellis gave the world an American Psycho whose brutality was graphic and gruesome and indifferent, but Jacobson and Siladi give audiences a team in Luis and Tim who, 20 years later, have digested the once-terrifying images like so much top-shelf liquor and waves it away with an impatient dismissive flourish. Weaned on the very pablum that Bateman was spewing both men idolize the text, digest the contents, and in turn serve it up in far more palatable, poisonous bites.

While Luis has the outward trappings of the perfect American psycho, it is the elusive Tim who is hiding his trailer-park upbringing and a history of peer abuse; Tim who actually cloaks a perfectly cloned inner-Bateman underneath his mismatched clothing, awkward social interaction and public misfires. When the two meet it is like two halves of a sacred coin coming together with a crack of lightening.

TIM: [ ...] everyone has a uniform. It’s fucking New York. Everyone has a part they’re playing. Ellis was just honest about it – he said this is what it’s like for yuppies, but you can apply it to everyone.

LUIS: Everyone. Even this little pill with the Tom’s shoes, Those Red-for-Aids T-shirts, Starbucks cups and Smart Water. Hello dumb ass. Those are BRANDS. Those are companies. They make money. She knows exactly what they are, so that’s why she uses them. [...]she probably only fucks guys that wear Tom’s shoes too [...] tell me, how is that different than some wasp-y upper east side trash that only fucks with guys who wear Armani? Tell me how it’s different.

And so, upon the hallowed ground of Bateman, a friendship is forged with Luis molding Tim in his image and Tim fashioning a mask of disdain and a uniform of Ralph Lauren that will gain him entry to the rarefied world that was so fleeting to him before he met Luis.

As the friendship burgeons the women of The American Play continue to interweave among them; they silently become the mothers, the ex-girlfriends, the memories. They are the landscape of this new America and without the choreographed movement there wouldn’t be a Luis or a Tim — because without insignificant people to dismiss and rise above there would be no measure of success.

LUIS : See, at first, it’s simply about survival [...] Then its about success, exceeding within the parameters laid about by the rules. Becoming the perfect fit. It surpasses survival – survival is now for the homeless, figuratively and literally, the weak – they simply survive. For the strong – it’s about perfection. Self excellence. [...] Self-control transcends to self-excellence, then pure excellence, and then it’s no longer about your own survival. You escape the animal fight to survive and sit back and impose your own criteria on others. You decide their survival.

With this exchange Jacobson has transmuted Batemen’s actual murderous rampage – divining other’s actual survival – into Luis’ more calculated plan to become a puppet master … a killer of careers, a snuffer of opportunities, an eviscerater of self-w0rth. In effect, this is far more chilling than serial-killing-with-a-smile; we are givin the man who maims and then leaves his prey broken, but not dead.

Through a a few uncomfortable monologues the past of both these young men is illuminated and while they couldn’t be more different from each other there is a shared road of sharp and broken tragedies which shaped who they are now, which fed this caustic and jaded psyche, and which connect the dots of exactly where they themselves were maimed, limping, and left crippled by circumstance. Overcompensating for these past trials, Tim and Luis see nothing wrong with doing unto others.

The watershed moment occurs when the two men host a party which they blithely theme an American Psycho party. Attendees are dressed appropriately (A sea of suits, and greased hair, and ladies with high heels) and are expected to talk the talk – though of course no one is expected to actually walk the walk (beyond “So these bitches need to shut their mouths and abide by the theme of the party. They are here for decoration and servitude.”) It is when Shelly arrives on the scene, however, that all bets are off. She is not only there not adhering to the dress code but she has no intention of shutting her mouth and acting as decoration.

Rachel Napoleon does a strong job of first portraying herself as seen through the eyes of Luis, then morphing into the actual Shelly who knows the trailer-park version of Tim (a dangerous adversary at a critical juncture), and finally devolving into the Shelly who withstands the exact brutality that not only echoes the Batemen of old but that is preached by Luis to Tim – the brutality of imposing “your own criteria on others”. With hardly a thought the two men play a cat-and-mouse game with Shelly – at the end of which the mask slips and the inner Bateman takes up residence in just one of the two men. Shelly is left broken, but by the end, everyone has been altered. Everyone survives, but some have felt the brutality of having another’s criteria imposed upon them.

Shane Jensen as Luis and Jimmy Dailey as Tim are nothing short of remarkable here. These characters are unlikable, uncomfortable, chilling and brash, but the actors who portray them are filled with the kind of brilliant talent that can make you lean forward in your seat, yearning to know more about what makes them tic. Together they play off of each other with a perfect chemistry that is not only believable but entrancing. Each actor also delivers monologues which are equally strong; Dailey breaks your heart as he recounts his brutal past and Jensen has you holding your breath as he recalls the memory of his sixteen year old girlfriend. While I look forward to watching both these fine actors in other shows I also wish I could see them re-create the magic they brought to these roles. The work they did here is something I won’t soon forget.

The American Play is everything an homage to American Psycho should be: chilling, dark, bitingly funny with humor that is as black as the atmosphere. The production is stunning from the first moment to the last, and will leave you with a much richer understanding of the original message of American Psycho, as well as gift you with an entirely brilliant message of its own.

~~~

The American Play

Produced by The Dirty Blondes
Written by Ashley J. Jacobson
Directed by Alexandra Siladi

$18 General Admission
$9.00 for Film/Music Participants
FREE for Theatre Festivity Participants

Mon 6/4/12 – 6:00pm
Thur 6/7/12 – 10:30pm
Thur 6/14/12 – 4:00pm
Wed 6/20/12 – 8:30pm
Fri 6/22/12 – 6:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 6:30pm

At Bleecker Street Theatre
45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY 10012

Conveniently located near:
Bleecker St (4 & 6)
Broadway – Lafayette St (B, D, F, M)
Prince St (N, R)

Click here to purchase tickets

The American Play – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

The Happiest Medium — Mon, 07 May 2012 16:01:58 +0000

The American Play

Benefiting: Sanctuary for Families
Produced by The Dirty Blondes
Written by Ashley J. Jacobson

“A sinister tale of a burgeoning friendship in an increasingly sociopathic society hell-bent on making monsters of its men and objects of its women. What would Partick Bateman do?”

Show Times:

Mon 6/4/12 – 6:00pm
Thur 6/7/12 – 10:30pm
Thur 6/14/12 – 4:00pm
Wed 6/20/12 – 8:30pm
Fri 6/22/12 – 6:00pm
Sat 6/23/12 – 6:30pm

Answers by Alexandra Siladi (Director),

Ashley Jacobson (Playwright),

Elizabeth Sarkady (Manager)

Karen Tortora-Lee’s Question
How did you come up with the title for your show?
Alexandra Siladi: Our show was inspired by American Psycho – playwright Ashley Jacobson decided on this specific title because we also realized this story was a capsule of modern American life. It is about white men, a demographic who not only who founded the country we live in, but continue to decide on the laws & regulations that govern its citizens. We see this play as a comment on American society and how in 20 years since American Psycho was written, not only has the story of Patrick Bateman been embraced by a large majority of those who know it, but it has become an iconic vision of the American male’s greatest concerns: image, sex, power, and money.

Diánna Martin’s Question
If you were going to invite 5 people (from the past or present) to see your show – who would you invite … and why?
AS: Bret Easton Ellis, because he wrote the book that is our inspiration in addition to being one of the most prolific writers of our generation, Christian Bale because he’s the inspiration for the film and our play’s image, Marilyn French the author of The War Against Women written years before the hashtag was part of our lexicon, Donald Trump Jr. because he would make a great Bateman and might be inspired to support the arts, and…

Ashley Jacobson: Quentin Tarantino, because I think he’d really like it.

Antonio Minino’s Question
What is the biggest sacrifice you’ve made for your art and was it worth it?
AS: The biggest sacrifice I’ve made for my art was my life – I’ve given myself up not only for this play, but for theater. It’s great exploring the mysteries of the human condition through the performing arts, I don’t see any other way.

AJ: As a writer, the artistic process is solitary, confining, alienating. You can’t do it with friends, of for me, a crowded room. I sit alone and stare at a computer screen and let the voices in my head guide me. Especially with this play, I think the sacrifice has been a bit of a social life, and a lot of my sanity. I dream about these people and hear their voices. It’s rewarding to hand it over to the production team and let them inhabit that world for a while.

Geoffrey Paddy Johnson’s Question
Was there any unexpected discovery made during the development of this production and can you share it with us?
AS: In the beginning, my goal was to bring American Psycho to life as essentially a one-person play told by multiple actors. From this seed, it has become a play about two fully formed characters that are able to exist as a comment on the same darkness that exists in the book. Also, we’ve discovered that live actresses make a better chorus than mannequins.

Elizabeth Sarkady: The original idea of the play came about before our company, The Dirty Blondes. After our company formed and we came back to this project, we noticed that the fact that this was a script about men penned and developed by women gave it a subversive feminist agenda.

AJ: After the first round of auditions, the entire production team was really depressed and freaked out by the show. It was a turning point in the writing process because we realized that we had created such a dark world, but we weren’t offering an alternative. We were just painting a picture of a cartoonish cruel world as if it was exact and inescapable. We had a little bit of an email therapy session, and I went back to the drawing board. From there, we added scenes and words that became the heart of the play; that made it more human; more touching and much more powerful.

Michelle Augello-Page’s Question
What do you hope the audience receives from the experience of seeing this show?
AS: We hope the audience experiences not only the Brechtian ideal of “alienation” (which we’re going for with breaking down the fourth wall) but that they are moved to look at how their behavior in even the most subtle forms of expression or language can impact the series of events that leads to violence. Violence begets violence, and we hope that the audience might not just turn their head to this fact, but try to stop it and show some kindness, which is not an easy feat.

AJ: Alex puts this perfectly. I just hope people are touched. The play points to so many elements of our daily lives – sexism, bullying, capitalism, etc. The takeaway message, though, is that it is all about how we treat each other, the damage we do to each other for the sake of “survival.” Kindness, and live-and-let-live can be a form of survival as well.

___

Planet Connections runs from May 30 – June 24 at The Bleecker Street Theater located at 45 Bleecker Street, New York, NY. To purchase tickets to this or any of the shows click here.

The Happiest Medium » The Dirty Blondes

The Dirty Blondes Talk About SEX

Related Posts:

The American Play (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

Related Posts:

The American Play – 5 Things To Know About The Show Before You Go (2012 Planet Connections Festivity)

The American Play

Answers by Alexandra Siladi (Director),

Ashley Jacobson (Playwright),

Elizabeth Sarkady (Manager)

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