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| Pictured: Maggie Cramer Credit: Charles Gorrill |
Caryl Churchill 's Top Girls attempts to answer this question. This play is directed by Carin Bratlie Wethern, produced by Theatre Pro Rata and showing at the Crane Theatre through November 21st.
On opening night, I got a set surprise, which varied from the previous week's Horror Fest. On the stage sat a long white table set for dinner.
I half expected the actors to engage in full dinner mode, as I've seen in past shows like "Family Dinner" where the characters literally eat dinner (by HUGE theater in Minneapolis). Instead I was introduced to feminist legends of the past like Griselda (Nissa Nordland), Lady Nijo (Megan Kim), and Pope Joan(Sarah Broude) who had witty lines like:
“I don’t obey anyone, they obeyed me," and “Women, children and lunatics cannot be the pope.”
This cheerful show made me want to sip wine alongside the actors as they played feminist legends and laughed together, retelling the stories of their struggles at the dinner table in competitive fashion. Each of the legends described things they've undergone in a patriarchal society. Each of the stories grew more bold, but humor remained a constant. Characters related mocked each other's situation as they could relate.
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| Pictured: Maggie Cramer, Nissa Nordland Morgan, Emily Rosenberg, Kelsey Cramer, Sarah Broude Credit: Alex Wohlhueter |
Emily Rosenberg, played multiple roles, including Angie and Dull Gret, a figure of Flemish folklore who is the subject of a 1563 oil painting. Dull Gret is said to have lead an army of women to pillage Hell. Rosenberg stands on a table to give a monologue so poignant that I had chills that made me want to fight for feminist rights. This is one of Rosenberg's first productions after receiving a B.A. in Theatre Arts at the University of Minnesota and my hat is off.
In act two, the audience sees what Churchill describes as "bourgeois feminism", something that became prevalent in the 80s as the struggle for political or social rights without recognizing any of the deeper elements; accepting as it is and only focusing on how individual women can succeed in it. The main character, Angie (Emily Rosenberg) is introduced as a teenager, who at one point runs away from her working class mother (Kelsey Laurel Cramer as Joyce) in order to meet her Aunt Marlene whom she is semi-estranged from.
And this hit me hard as I thought about my own family and how class and family obligations play a role in who we become from a very young age. Even the one influence on Angie, the Aunt (Maggie Kramer) is the one mentor in the character's life whose big wig job in the city is an inspiration.
Scenic design by MJ Leffler used tables and chairs to show an 80's staffing agency, and an overturned table to show characters hiding out. The minimalist set helped the audience fill in the blanks for what really matters, meaty roles and witty dialog.
The cast of Top Girls includes performers who are gender non-binary, all of the characters within the play are female. Since 2001, Theatre Pro Rata has been staging plays that range from classic drama to modern black comedies, and the theater produces scripts that bring visceral theatrical experiences to its stage.
Come see Top Girls at Crane theatre. Tickets at theatreprorata.org
Looks like compelling theatre. Hope you enjoyed it!
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