Performing Arts Feature | Chicago Reader: "A guy walks into a bar . . . , " or so goes the familiar joke setup that works because guys are always walking into bars. Except in Rebecca Gilman's Twilight Bowl, now playing through March 10 at the Goodman Theatre, the token guy never enters the scene. Over the course of the show's 90-minute running time, not one man makes an appearance onstage—or even so much as issues a cue backstage.
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My initial reaction to to an article like this is that it shouldn't be necessary. It almost makes me feel weird that it's an all women cast, like the opportunity has been taken away from someone, but really, that's just my internalized reaction that all women anything is weird and unnatural. I hate that that's where my thoughts go, because that means that thats what the world has taught me. I wish that it wasn't necessary to set out with the intention to create an all woman cast and crew, because in reality, every day we see all male casts and crews. I hope that eventually we can stop setting out with the intention to have all female leadership and cast, and rather that we will naturally do that in a similar way that we have naturally been casting men all this time. Wouldn't it be great if the baseline for a table of CEOs or a crew for theater became all women and POC, rather than what we think of now, as all white men? I hope we can get there, and I hope that eventually, a show like this isn't news at all.
While I’m really glad to see a strong and popular all female production, the most intriguing part of this article to me is actually the reprise of the original cast. I had never really thought about how a returning to a character after time can give the character more growth when you are continuing a story line that does not grow throughout time, but resets each night. I guess the growth really comes in the depth of the character; having spent more time with the persona the actors have the time to dig into their lives as influence for their actions. I would be interested to hear from someone who saw the original production and then saw the second run. It would be cool to see how the relationships felt different and if they read any more genuine or realistic or relatable than they had the first time around. I understand that this article showcases the play itself, but I wish they had given a minute or two to the all female backstage crew rather than the fleeting dependent clause they did.
I really liked this article even though, like Lenora, I found it a little sad that this has to be groundbreaking news. I think the fact that this deserves to be news goes back to the idea of the straight white man as the default and how anything that differs from that is striking and sending a message. That being said, I think this show sounds really interesting and created in a safe and supportive environment. I was struck by one of the comments in the article about how all of the collaborators felt safe and heard in the room, while the show was being produced. I had the opportunity to work the lighting load-in at a theater last summer and I was happily surprised to find that all of the lighting crew, except for the designer, were women. I understand the importance of working in an environment where you can feel connected to the people you work with and, especially with this show which focuses so heavily on female relationships, this atmosphere is really beneficial.
This might be the first time that I have read about a production team being all female and that idea including the design and technical team, aside from when I attended a school that had no choice to be an all-female team because we were a school for women. Up until I left that school, I really never thought the idea of an all-female team being revolutionary because that is what every team was to me. Whether it was math, robotics, sports, theatre, or debate, literally everything was all female, and, when competing with other schools, we placed highly with no question as to how a team without men could have done that. My biggest pet peeve is the tone of shock that comes from people who are describing their surprise at an all-female team existing, or god forbid, achieving a goal, winning an award, etc. I hope that in the future this is not something that shocks us, but something that we see often.
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