Women’s Studies Program to Present “Rebel Grrrls: Revolutionary Voices”

Tomorrow night, FSU’s Women’s Studies Program is putting on a free performance of “Rebel Grrrls: Revolutionary Voices,” an original play by Dr. Mary Anne Lutz and directed by Mary Ann Chapman, both of the English department. The play is part of the Program’s yearly celebration of Women’s History Month.

The play centers on CJ, a young musician and songwriter who is frustrated by the rampant sexist attitudes she faces as she tries to break into the music business. She comes in to work one day, exasperated by an audition with a band who clearly didn’t want a female bandmate. Her coworker, Dan, suggests they didn’t know any of the greats, like Odetta, and when CJ asks who she is, he gives her a look and says, “You need to know Odetta, hon.” CJ pulls out her phone and begins reading about Odetta on Wikipedia, and soon, she discovers four other world-changing female musicians, like Chilean folk artist Violeta Parra and Kathleen Hanna, the feminist activist and frontlady of bands Bikini Kill and Le Tigre. As she reads about the women, they appear on stage, and she asks them questions about their music, lives and involvement in the social and political movements of their eras.

“What she learns from these women is that you can initiate action for yourself,” says Lutz. Lutz, who serves on the Women’s Studies Steering Committee, based the interviews on scripts and tapes of interviews with the musicians.

Every year, the Women’s Studies Program does a project like this to connect what students are learning today to the past and to help them see how women were involved in social change. The project is not necessarily always a play, but it tends to be a dramatic presentation of some sort to capture the audience’s attention better than a lecture typically would.

The performance is tomorrow (Tuesday, March 31) at 7:30 p.m. in the Lane University Center Atkinson Room (232). It is free and open to the public.