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THE MICHIGAN DAILY

Sunday, February 20, 1972

Page Two THE MICHIGAN DAILY Sunday1 February 20, 1972


cinematography,

feminist

Qes thetic s

By GLORIA JANE SMITH
, These films poignantly illus-
'trate the societal conditioning
that most women have unider-
gone. These films make t h e
oftentimes. rhetorical statements
of the women's liberation move-
ment become animate. These
films carry a strong message:
that a woman is a person -
sensitive, creative and alive.
Five films, produced (with the
exception of one) by women,
were shown last Thursday eve-
ning in the Student Gallery.
"Lover's and Friends," pro-
duced by," Lydia, Camie, Kathy,
and Nancy told the story of one
woman's gradual liberation.
"Sisters together now
Clear the make-up off the shelv-
es .-.. Max Factor go to Hell
. Sisters together -now..."
Quotes such as "The only al-
liance I want with the women's
movement is in bed ..." - Ab-
bie flofman or "Boys invent
things, girls use what boys in-
vent" - children's book, reach
our ears while our eyes glimpse
a woman preparing for an eve-
ning with her male lover. The
candles are lit, the meal pre-
pared and glamour magazines
consulted prior to his arrival.
A few days removed, we see
the same woman, visited by a
liberated sister, undergo a
transformation. Off go the false
eyelashes, and on goes the cold
creme to remove all traces of'
face paint, while we hear a
song which braves such lyrics
as "Sisters together now!' . . .
Clear the make-up off the shelv-
es . . . Max Factor go to Hell
Sisters together now . .
"If I Knew Then," produced
by Micheline Becker, tells the
story of a middle-aged woman
who grasps for youth with false.
eye-lashes, a low-cut blouse, and
a flower in her hair.
"Women in Revolution," pro-
duced by Mark Gold, tells the
story of a wife who brings her
husband to trial in the "Wo-
men's Court of Justice." She liv-
es a daytime life of drudgery
- washing dishes, cleaning toil-
ets, etc . . .- and then is
expected to transform herself

into a glamourous object draped
in black and red velvet for her
husband in the evening.
At different moments in the
movie, we hear rock songs, such
as 'Eve of Destruction," a n d
are shown shots of the Vietnam
dead, the bomb and a remark-
ably funny sped-up version of a
leisurely drive through Ann
Arbor traffic.
"Dance," produced by A m y
Elsworth, is a beautiful vision
of one woman performing mo-
dern dance with her { self-image
apparent to compliment h e r
actions.
"Manican," produced by Anita
Gilman, shows a woman, draped
in white, approaching a mani-
can resting in a forest. S h e
drapes her veil on the manican
and floats off into the distance.
'Expression of Life" produced
by Sister Nadine Doinely, shows
two pairs, of hands. These hands
reach, they grasp, they clench
their fists and intertwine, and
they mold a spinning pottery
piece./
All of the films seemed above
average as films produced of
relatively low budgets. Tech-
niques were usually extremely
effective and well executed.

street theatre

By SUE STARK
It would be no exageration to
say that following Thursday
night's performance by t h e
Women's Street Theatre' of De-
troit a majority of the audience
left sighing 'True, how true."
The others were men. Sympa-
thetic men, perhaps, but still
men.
In 'Stories of Our Lives," this
group of nine non-professional
players indeed 'presented t h e
stories of our - women's - lives
as society dictates them.
A series of realistic sketches
flashed us back to junior high
and the phenomena of our first
bra, and then carried us through
the not-so-long-ago high school
syndrome of prom dates, make-
up, diets (sic), and clothes.
As college co-eds we were
depicted as "groovy beautiful
chicks" getting stoned and
swooning over some gyrating
performer at a rock concert and
/or as as a maiden "in dis-

tress' at a wild fraternity par-
ty.
An extremely effective tech-
nique was devised to convey the
points to the audience. Through-
out these all-too-true portraits
of our lives, three players pok-
ed their heads out of a sheet
covered with crayon faces and,
as in a real crowd, added their
quarter's worth.
"Nice girls don't get raped;
nice guys like us get seduced by
wanton women."
"Boys will be boys; just good
ol' college fun."
"Women like getting slapped
around, anyway."
Such is the plight of t h e
American woman, and we've
heard - and experienced it -
over and over again.
But the Women's Street Thea-
tre of Detroit combined a fresh
approach with considerable tal-
ent to make these issues come
alive.
And they also made the aud-
ience "come alive" - in the
first part of their performance
they conducted group warm-ups
to get everyone "energized and
into what we're doing."
As one player led the aud-
ience in several girl-type exer-
cises including rocking a baby
and "We must, we must, we
must develop our bust!" - ano-
ther player quickly fell to the
floor shooting guns and then
jumped up flexing muscles in a
masculine routine.
Another switch and we were
back in Miss Hortense's charm
school learning to walk correct-
ly, hold in our tummies, and not
to talk above a whisper.
What better way to ilustrate
sex roles?
Feminist poetry and an en-
actment of the actual story of

one player's life followed. Pleas-
antly plump, this player grew
up hating herself and in an
agony of despair.. Once in col-
lege, however, she met sym-
pathetic people who accepted
her as a person and gradually
she began to accept herself.
Several scenes from this sketch
particularlyhit home for many
in the audience who just shook
their heads and laughed.
.Their informal approach and
ability to poke fun at them-
selves and the' "Women's condi-
tion" makes the Women's Street
Theatre of Detroit a human, not
heavy, experience.

Editor's note:
Woman, who for centuries has
been considered by men as
somewhat of an art object, has
now chosen a new, more crea-
tive role: that of artist.
And as this page attempts to
illustrate, women have also be-
come acutely aware of art as
it relates to their social and po-
litical struggle for liberation.

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ACTIVIST WOMEN:
Group concerned with the put-down of
women and children of divorce by the
present legal system is seeking active
members.
CALL 662-1418
GRAD COFFEE HOUR
WED., FEB. 23
4--6 P.M.
4th Floor RACKNAM
Come for Hot Chocolate
and Cake

1

PRISON REFORM

i

PILOT PROGRAM Presents

COME HEAR

Jane Kennedy
former political prisoner
and DeHoCo inmate

Wiseman's Law & Order:
a su yfteKnaCtyplc

I

a study of the Kansas City police
dept. in action!
TODAY-i & 9 P.M.

I

MO NDAY, FE B.21

8:00 P.M.

Public Health Auditorium
If you can't see it this time CINEMA GUILD will
be showing it APRIL 12

S

I

UGLI Multipurpose Room
Sponsored by Newman Student Association

In

Women' s Street Threatre of Detroit

Phone 764-0558 to Subscribe to
THE MICHIGAN DAILY

gallery exhibits

y SUSAN LEVINE
It's refreshing to see the ar-
tistic, creative talents of focal
women on exhibit, rather than
the=women themselves - as is
often the case.
Weaving, macrame and cera-
mics are the predominant a r t
forms in the Women's Art Ex-
hibit now on display in the Stu-
dent. Gallery located in t h e
Michigan Union.

heavy, irregular shape of Pur-
tado's pedestaled plate.
Very few hard-edged things
are displayed, with the exception
of some geometrically shaped
squares by Batchco. Also, a
landscape with geometric clouds
follows this with a somber color
composition.
In shades of blacks, whites
and greys are some effective
lithographs. R i t a Messinger's,
". . and childrens lib," and
'After the holocost nothing re-
mains," are both done in a
unique approach. ". . . and
children's lib," shows the lab-
eled internal sex organs of male
and female, with the spasmic
outcome of an embryo. Prints
by Davidson are of a more me-
chanical image.
Olmsted's jewelry is made of
tiny little mechanical parts.
Pieces of metal, copper a n d
wire are arranged creatively in-
to necklaces, earrings, and rings.
The Student Gallery, relative-
ly new to our campus, offers a
relaxed atmosphere where stu-
dents may display, sell, and
discuss theiK art works. Stu-
dents and alumni of the Uni-
versity have first preference for
display area, although all com-
munity artists are welcome.
'It's the student's gallery and
we'll do whatever the students
5TH WEEK!
At State and Liberty
imATE
Program Information 662-6264

feel is necessary," explains Don
Mattson, director. "We're open
for change, suggestions and par-
ticipation."
The Women's Art Show has
thus far been doing twice as
good on a daily basis as the
have been quite frequent and
gallery does regularly. Sales
have been quite frequent and
might be this way because of
the reasonable prices, gallery
representatives explain.
Fritz Lang's
M 1931
PETER LORRE
-and-
The Pit and
the Pendulum
Roger Cormon's color
recreation of Poe tale
LAST NIGHT
TONIGHT
conspiracy
330 Maynard
dollar double feature
Mat4:30,7, 10:30
Pit ot 3:30 & 8:45

$1.50 &450

FRI., SAT., SUN.
MIKE
SEEGER
. . consistently
brilliant . ..
-L.A. Night Life
" . a virtuoso
in everything."
-Boston After Dark
1413H ill$ ET
Rent your
Roommate with
a Classified Ad

:

The general mood of the show,
as. shown through color, is ra-
ther muted - somewhat Au-
tuin-like.
A lovely two-sided tapestry is
loosely woven dark brown on
one side with a tightly woven
composition of gold, orange and
brown on the other. Likewise,
Micheline uses water color on
canvas in a very thick ab-
stract way. And in ceramics, we
see the mood continued in the
DIAL 665-6290
SHOWS AT:
1:15-3:45-6:15-8:50

0

I1

FIND OUT YOURSELF
WHY EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT-

FEATURE AT:
1:30-4:00-6:30-9:00

I

OPEN 1 p.m. SHOWS AT
1:15-3:10-5-7-9 P.M.
Feature Starts 5 min. later

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"IT'S A SIZZLER"
-Detroit News
"ONE OF THE
YEAR'S TEN BEST"
-Time
"The best A m e r i c a n
m o v ie of the last six
months."
"Come on like gangbust-
ers . . . I doubt if you'll
see anything quite as
devastating."
-Michigan Daily

A DIFFERENT KINO OF LOVE STORY
NO ONE UNDER 18 ADMITTED
MON. THRU FRI.
-MI 708:30010
SAT. & SUN.
5:30 07 1 8:30 0 10

I

0

o F PPTH POf'I
FIFThi AVENUE AT LIU
DOWNTOWN ANN ARI
INFORMATION 761-97

L


I'.

Ann Arbor Civic Theatre
Presents
I NEVER
SANG FOR

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