{"id":15140,"date":"2020-02-04T11:22:18","date_gmt":"2020-02-04T16:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/?p=15140"},"modified":"2020-02-04T11:22:18","modified_gmt":"2020-02-04T16:22:18","slug":"gloria","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/2020\/02\/04\/gloria\/","title":{"rendered":"Gloria Steinem At ART\u2019s \u2018Gloria\u2019: \u2018I Don\u2019t Have Time For You To Applaud Because We Have A Lot Of Organizing To Do\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

The audience broke into applause as Gloria Steinem strode onto the stage at the end of Jan. 30 opening night performance of \u201cGloria: A Life\u201d at Harvard\u2019s American Repertory Theater<\/a>. The legendary feminist activist assured the crowd that civil rights and feminism have won majority support across the United States.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut it also means we have a backlash,\u201d she said. About a third of Americans were \u201cborn into an old hierarchy and still want it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we are in the majority and we have each other,\u201d Steinem said, \u201cand fuck them.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crowd cheered.<\/p>\n

\"Gloria<\/a>
Gloria Steinem takes the stage at
curtain call on the opening night of “Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Jan. 30, 2020. (Photo: Liv Slaughter\/Chris Rogers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cGloria,\u201d<\/a> authored by Emily Mann and directed by Diane Paulus, runs at the A.R.T. in Cambridge from Jan. 24 to March 1. The 90-minute production\u2014followed each night by an “Act II” post-show “talking circle” (which Steinem doesn\u2019t usually lead)\u2014originated as an autobiographical show starring Steinem, though she bowed out of performing before it premiered at New York\u2019s Daryl Roth Theatre in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cI never had to show up at the same time and place every day, much less create magic on demand,\u201d Steinem has written<\/a>. \u201cI could do talks in groups, but only because they were spontaneous.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the one-woman show structure remains in \u201cGloria\u201d\u2019s bones. The stage is decorated with rugs and cushions and piles of books, like a teach-in or consciousness-raising session, with the audience arranged on all sides. Patricia Kalember\u2014joined by an ensemble of six actors\u2014does noble work channeling Steinem\u2019s look and voice and wit. She speaks directly to the audience in a we\u2019re-all-friends-here tone. She breezily recounts Steinem\u2019s inspiring story of weathering sexism, refusing to accept being told she couldn\u2019t do things because she was a woman, navigating conservative backlashes.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a self-proclaimed hope-aholic,\u201d Kalember\u2019s Gloria says, \u201c\u2026because I know we\u2019ve made some progress.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Patricia<\/a>
Patricia Kalember as Gloria Steinem in “Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge. (APrioriPhotography.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steinem, who turns 86 in March, grew up in Ohio, dreaming of dancing with The Rockettes. She struggled to help her mother, who was addled by mental illness and addiction to tranquilizers that were prescribed to her.<\/p>\n

Steinem studied at Smith College, where she learned about its racist enrollment policies, and had a dalliance with the CIA (unmentioned in the show). She moved to New York to become a political journalist, but found herself stymied by the white newsmen who believed women were only capable of reporting on food, makeup, babies and celebrities. In 1963, she went undercover as a Playboy Bunny to write an expose for Show magazine on the New York Playboy Club. \u201cThis costume is so tight is would give a man cleavage,\u201d Kalember jokes.<\/p>\n

\""Gloria:<\/a>
“Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge. (APrioriPhotography.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A turning point in Steinem\u2019s embrace of the women\u2019s movement was reporting on a 1969 women\u2019s speak-out about abortion. Steinem would later publicly acknowledge having an abortion herself when she was young. She says the doctor made her promise: \u201cYou will do what you want to do with your life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Steinem had protested for civil rights and against the Vietnam War, but \u201cI thought protesting for just women was frivolous,\u201d Kalember says.<\/p>\n

As Steinem moved toward the women\u2019s movement, male colleagues at New York magazine told her, \u201cYou have worked hard to be taken seriously, you must not get involved with these crazy women.\u201d As feminism opened her eyes, she felt humiliated by the ways she had been complicit in patriarchy.<\/p>\n

The women\u2019s movement, as the show describes it, was fueled by women comparing life stories and dreaming new futures at community discussions and consciousness-raising groups.<\/p>\n

\"Reenacting<\/a>
Reenacting the 1970 Women\u2019s Strike for Equality in “Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge. (APrioriPhotography.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As Kalember shares anecdotes, the ensemble momentarily coalesces into vignettes of women recounting their abortions, sexists in a taxi, a television interview. The ensemble reenacts the 1970 Women\u2019s Strike for Equality by marching across the stage under a banner reading \u201cWe Strike for Peace and Equality\u201d and shouting: \u201cPower to the woman! \u2026 Sisterhood is powerful! We demand equality!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Patricia<\/a>
Patricia Kalember as Gloria Steinem (left) and Gabrielle Beckford as Dorothy Pitman Hughes reenact an iconic 1971 Esquire magazine photo
in “Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge. (APrioriPhotography.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steinem and African-American feminist child-welfare activist Dorothy Pitman Hughes went on a speaking tour, beginning in the South. Kalember and ensemble member Gabrielle Beckford, as Hughes, reenact an iconic 1971 Esquire magazine photo of the two of them with their fists raised. \u201cI learned feminism from Black women,\u201d Kalember says, pointing also to Pauli Murray, Shirley Chisholm, Fannie Lou Hamer, Audre Lorde, Alice Walker.<\/p>\n

Steinem tried to write articles asserting that women are full human beings only to have white male editors reject the idea, insisting they would simultaneously have to publish an article saying women are not fully human next to it to be objective. \u201cYou can\u2019t make this shit up,\u201d Kalember says\u2014a refrain in the play. This fueled Steinem\u2019s cofounding of the feminist magazine Ms. in 1971.<\/p>\n

Steinberg worked with the feminist, anti-war, pro-gay rights New York Congresswoman Bella Abzug, who secured Congressional funding for state women\u2019s conferences that lead up to a 1977 National Women’s Conference for gender quality in Houston, which Abzug chaired. (Joanna Glushak powerfully portrays both Steinem\u2019s mother and Abzug.)<\/p>\n

A counter conference across town\u2014led by \u201cfamily values\u201d (anti-feminist, anti-gay) activist Phyllis Schlafly\u2014signals a conservative pushback that continues into the Reagan 1980s. Steinem visits Wilma Mankiller, the first female principal chief of the Cherokee Nation, to regroup and recharge. Mankiller teaches her about the indigenous inspirations of American democracy and the power of women leaders.<\/p>\n

\"Patricia<\/a>
Patricia Kalember as Gloria Steinem in “Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge. (APrioriPhotography.com)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The show rushes forward through Black Lives Matter to the 2017 Women\u2019s March on Washington to the anti-gun activisim of the young survivors of the 2018 shooting massacre at Florida\u2019s Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School.<\/p>\n

\u201cGloria\u201d is inspiring and acidly funny, and rueful about the bigotry Steinem has faced down. But I wish this \u201cGloria\u201d had more of the real Steinem\u2019s sharpness, her fierceness, her \u201cfuck them\u201d attitude.<\/p>\n

\"Gloria<\/a>
Gloria Steinem (left) with Patricia Kalember, who plays Steinem, at “Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Jan. 30, 2020. (Photo: Liv Slaughter\/Chris Rogers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The crowd exploded into cheers as the real Steinem walked onto the stage after the Jan. 30 performance to lead that night\u2019s post-show “talking circle.” \u201cI don\u2019t have time for you to applaud because we have a lot of organizing to do,\u201d she quipped.<\/p>\n

She joked, \u201cThe bravest thing I\u2019ve done in my life is to follow myself.\u201d<\/p>\n

Audience members shared how moved they were by Steinem\u2019s presence and inspiration. A father said he was seeking to be a better man. Women said they were dismayed by rollbacks of abortion rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy begins with control over our bodies, men and women,\u201d Steinem said.<\/p>\n

“Gloria” playwright Emily Mann<\/a> told the crowd that when she graduated from Harvard\u2019s Radcliffe College in 1974, she was told that women couldn\u2019t write or direct in professional theater, and was encouraged to work in children\u2019s theater instead.<\/p>\n

People talked about how they were hurt by anti-feminist peers or trans-phobic college admissions officers. \u201cThe feminist movement does fuck up from time to time,\u201d Steinem said, before adding, \u201cIf you speak up with your personal experiences that will help everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Gloria<\/a>
Gloria Steinem embraces an audience member after she spoke at “Gloria: A Life” at American Repertory Theater, Cambridge, Jan. 30, 2020. (Photo: Liv Slaughter\/Chris Rogers)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Steinem said, \u201cOur job is not to make young women grateful. Our job is to make them ungrateful,\u201d Steinem says, as they recognize the improvements still to be made and take action.<\/p>\n

Asked about whether women presidential candidates are \u201celectable,\u201d Steinem said, \u201cWe have to stop saying who can win? We have to say: we\u2019re going to make them win. \u2026 It\u2019s up to us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrapping things up, Kalember said, \u201cPromise you will do at least one outrageous thing in the cause of social justice.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the next 24 hours,\u201d Steinem insisted.<\/p>\n

\n

If this is the kind of coverage of arts, cultures and activisms you appreciate, please support Wonderland by contributing to Wonderland on Patreon<\/a>. And sign up for our free, weekly newsletter<\/a> so that you don’t miss any of our reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n

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The audience broke into applause as Gloria Steinem strode onto the stage at the end of Jan. 30 opening night performance of \u201cGloria: A Life\u201d at Harvard\u2019s American Repertory Theater. The legendary feminist activist assured the crowd that civil rights and feminism have won majority support across the United States. \u201cBut it also means we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15143,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110],"tags":[455,42,689,690],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15140"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15161,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15140\/revisions\/15161"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15143"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gregcookland.com\/wonderland\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}