When it comes to feminist rallying cries, “Girl Power!” is so
1997. And sorry, Posh Spice, stilettos alone do not an empowered
woman make.
But in The Superheroine Monologues,
a colorful, campy comedy playing Wednesdays through Sundays, September 10
through September 26, at the Boston Center for the Arts
(Plaza Theatre, 539 Tremont Street, Boston), that power mantra is taken a bit
more literally. The show brings together famous female caped crusaders of the
comic-book world to rap about their lives through the decades. Despite the
high-flying humor, the show also intends some salient social commentary as it
reimagines each heroine’s life story in relation to women’s evolving roles:
representing the 1950s, Lois Lane bemoans her desire to trade a star
journalist’s career and Pulitzer Prize for life as a housewife; liberated in
the psychedelic ’60s, Catwoman shrugs off traditional trappings to become a
renegade outlaw; by the ’70s, Batgirl is juggling with shifting gender roles in
the sexy disco era; like many others, Supergirl comes out of the closet in the
’80s; Storm ditches the X-Men and waxes on life as a single black female in the
’90s; and Dark Phoenix confronts the role of women in the media-saturated ’00s.
Opening and closing the show is Wonder Woman, that pinnacle of Amazonian
prowess, whose appearances serve as poignant bookends to the tales of progress
and the lack thereof. For tickets ($25) and info on special promotions
(including a “pay what you can” Super Sunday on September 13) visit
www.superheroinemonologues.com or call 617.933.8600.
There’s not a “No Boys Allowed!” sign hanging on this secret
clubhouse. In fact, the show features several male roles as friends and foils
and was written by two guys, John Kuntz and Rick Park. Helming the production —
the Charlie to these Angels — is director Greg Maraio of Phoenix Theatre
Artists, which is presenting the show alongside the BCA’s Company One. A
comic-book fan himself, Maraio and an actress in a play he directed last year
came up with this new “monologues” idea, and it debuted
at the Boston Playwrights Theatre in April. Its warm reception from local
critics and audiences prompted the team to expand it to a full two-hour
production, with additional supporting characters, some song-and-dance numbers
(e.g., Wonder Woman’s “Leaving on an Invisible Jet Plane”), and a more
super-sized spectacle. Maraio says some of the most gratifying responses have
come from women in the audience. “It’s a parody, so foremost we wanted it to be
funny, and to make sure the audience was having a good time,” says Maraio. “But
what I found most rewarding was women of all ages telling me about their issues
and how they relate to the show.”
Like the comic books that birthed them, these girls want to have
fun. But along the way, who can object to a social satire and cultural critique
that goes way beyond a women’s studies lecture? These boots were made for
walking — and for kicking oppressive patriarchal evildoers all the way to
Krypton.
