It was difficult to believe that the performers were college students, like the audience gathered to watch them.
Perhaps this was because the women of the Untamed Shrews were breaking traditional boundaries of socially-conscious performance in depicting issues of feminism that were largely before their time.
The Untamed Shrews, the campus's premier "collaborative women's performance group," recently completed a three-performance run of their play "The F-Word," which explores events and issues surrounding the most divisive "f-word" in recent times -- feminism.
The group's presentation of a play marks a departure from their usual pastiche-type dramatizations of literature by and about women.
"The F-Word" is a play written by four women known as the Sleeveless Theater Group. Drama Professor Rebecca Schneider offered the play to the group for its consideration, and the rest is history.
While sparking thought on serious matters, the Shrews' play made for a very humorous and educational hour of entertainment.
Four of the seven scenes in the play addressed the F-word (feminism) in contemporary contexts, while other scenes recounted the history of feminist political movements.
Some of the skits used familiar story lines and references to outstanding figures in the history of feminism.
The show opened with a very clear liberal slant in its representation of The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy, played by Ellen Sullivan '97, decided to follow the feminist path instead of the yellow brick road.
Gloria Steinem, the Good Witch of the Left (Reem Tarazi '97) defeated her antagonist, Phyllis Schlafly, the Bad Witch of the Right (Heather McNemar '96).
A spoof of ABC's "Nightline" featuring guests Joan of Arc, Susan B. Anthony and Sara Goode revealed the situations of these three feminist political martyrs.
Sections of the play such as "Hollywood Does the Klassix," attacked women's roles in the movies, while "Feminists Undercover" represented a spoof on the Officer Krupke scene from "West Side Story." But a sexist police officer harasses not the Jets, but the L.I.B. (Ladies in Backlash).
Interspersed with these comic scenes was a two-part "History of Feminism." These highly educational and comic episodes gave a brief outline of feminist political movements in the United States.
The focus was clearly on the mainstream movement, but the relationship of women of color to the mainstream movement was also addressed.
The show ended with a relatively even-handed history of the Equal Rights Amendment. The women described the pros and cons of the amendment during the performance and closed their show with the death of the amendment in the House of Representatives in 1983.
The Untamed Shrews successfully broadened their repertoire of performance styles with an educational and humorous play.
The group made sure to communicate its message as clearly and directly as possible. They printed a list of "Things to Know" in the program and included the history of women at the College in a section describing the "History of Feminism."
