Robin Morgan:
The "otherizing" of women is the oldest oppression known to our species, and it's the model, the template, for all other oppressions.

PRESS: REVIEW

'Anastasia Trials' injects humor into feminism
William Randall Beard, Minneapolis Star Tribune

From the start of the women's movement, there has been a pervasive stereotype of feminists as dour and humorless. With its current production, Carolyn Gage's "The Anastasia Trials in the Court of Women," Theatre Unbound turns that on its ear. This is a women's theater company presenting a scathing satire of a women's theater company, skewering the mythology of sisterhood.

The Emma Goldman Theatre Brigade is rehearsing the world premiere of the titular play. But ideology gets in the way. Refusing to observe any form of hierarchy, including casting, all the women learn all the parts and there is a lottery before each performance. The result is complete chaos. And for all their political correctness, these women are such prima donnas, it's a wonder the show opens at all.

After that slam-bang opening, the play within the play, about the Grand Duchess Anastasia, proves a bit of a letdown. It assumes that she was indeed the daughter of Tsar Nicholas and now she is suing five women who betrayed her, who knew who she was yet denied her. Gage uses Anastasia as a metaphor for all women who survive victimization, but interestingly enough, in this case, the perpetrators are other women.

As the trial progresses, Gage seems to lose control of the complex issues she's grappling with and the arguments become almost willfully abstract. Thankfully, she has a strong cast of diverse women to carry the story. Director Rebecca Rizzio allows each of the actors to shine in the dual roles of performer and character.

Stacey Poirier steals the show as the most ferocious of the feminists, though the intensity of her performance becomes a bit wearying after a while. Kirstin Kuchler is endearing as a techie who is a deer caught in the headlights onstage, until she finds her power. Laura Coates and Christine Winkler make the arguments of the attorneys as dramatic as possible.

This is interactive theater, with the women in the audience (not the men -- this is court of women after all) voting on all the motions and the final verdict. While this feels a bit gimmicky, it is at least not overly intrusive. "Anastasia" is most successful as a comedy, but manages to be thought-provoking as well. It's a fine example of women's theater.

William Randall Beard is a Minneapolis writer.