Some these plays (Maison
des Reves, Ambition), the perspective is standard oppressor/oppressed class
struggle feminism, employing orthodox “social construction” dogma to invent
rationalizations for behavior. Thus farm owner Belle Gunness falls under the
gender theory claim that women were not property owners until recent times
[Youtube synopsis of Ambition] and
that motives are necessarily retaliatory.
Other writers take an open and exploratory avoid dogma, such
as Angelmakers: Songs for Female Serial
Killers, which was inspired by the superb 2017 Peter Vronsky book on Female Serial Killers: How and Why Women
Become Monsters.
***
2002 – Self Defense: Deaths of Some Salesmen; Playwright: Carson Kreitzer; Studio 115, NYC; Mar 25-Jun. 15, 2002; New Georges and Reverie Productions; 7 acts, 95 min.
***
1999 – Wuornos; opera; Composer: Carla Lucero;
Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Ca., Jul. 1999; Florida, Oct. 2012.
Case: Alieen Wuornos (USA)
2002 – Self Defense: Deaths of Some Salesmen; Playwright: Carson Kreitzer; Studio 115, NYC; Mar 25-Jun. 15, 2002; New Georges and Reverie Productions; 7 acts, 95 min.
Case: Alieen Wuornos (USA)
2013 – Maison des Reves, Playwright-performer:
Talie Melnyk; solo stage performance; Feb. 2013; Dir: Gretchen
Cryer; Frigid Festival, Red Room, New York, NY.
Case: Madame “Alexe” Popova
(Russia)
“Maison des Reves is based
on the true story of Alexe Popova who in 1909 Samara, Russia confessed to
killing over 300 men, all known for abusing their wives and children.
Through 7 characters and a narrator, I tell the story of this female serial
killer who was the champion of women in her community.”
[Byrne Harrison, FRIGID New York Interview - Talie Melnyk of "Maison des Reves" Stagebuzz.com, Feb. 24, 2013]
[Byrne Harrison, FRIGID New York Interview - Talie Melnyk of "Maison des Reves" Stagebuzz.com, Feb. 24, 2013]
2013 – Pipás Pista; Playwright: Pozgai Zsolt; National Theater of Szeged, Hungary; 2013 (revived
annually); Dir: Frigyes Kovács, Csaba Csaba Varga.
Case: Victoria Rieger (Hungary)
2014 – Blood Countess; Playwright: Keleen
Conway Blanchard; Annex Theatre, Seattle, Wa., Oct. 24-Nov. 22, 2014.
Case: Elizabeth Bathory
2015 – The Execution of Mrs. Cotton;
Playwright: Sara Fellini; Standard ToyKraft, Brooklyn, Nov. 8, 2015; IRT, New
York, NY, Jul. 17?-31, 2016.
Case: Mary Ann Cotton (England)
2016 – Ambition: The Female American Serial Killer
Musical; Playwright: Kaela Mei-Shing Garvin;
soundtrack CD, 11 songs, rel: Nov. 5, 2016; Workshop: Dixon Place, New York,
NY, Jan. 22, 2016; Fringe, Ars Nova ANT
Fest, NY, Jun. 13, 2016; Fringe Planet
Connections Theater Festival 2016.
“Ambition is an in-development
musical about female American serial killers Nannie Doss, Jane Toppan &
Belle Gunness, who claimed that their societal value (their inability to own
property, miscarriages caused by vindictive strangers, or their non-resemblance
to the heroines in romance novels) somehow led them to a path of violence. This
song cycle focuses on how structures of oppression aimed at stabilizing the
status quo can erupt into disorder born out of repression—and don’t forget,
there’s singing!” [Kaela Garvin, YouTube, Jan. 21, 2016]
2016 – Skin Deep, Playwright: Attila Theatre;
Pentahotel, Reading, England, Reading Fringe Festival, Jul. 22, 2016.
Case: Elizabeth Bathory (Hungary)
2017 – Angelmakers: Songs for Female Serial Killers;
Songs by Molly Rice; cabaret genre, Real/Time Interventions, Aftershock
Theater, Lawrenceville/Pittsburgh, Pa., Oct. 25-Nov. 11, 2017; singer/actor
Milia Ayache; Dir: Rusty Thelin; Inspired by Female Serial Killers book, by Peter Vronsky.
Cases: Velma Barfield (“How the Devil Sings”), Countess Elizabeth Báthory, Mary Bell, Zsuzsanna Fazekas; Gwen Grahamand Cathy Wood, Jane Toppan, Aileen Wuornos
***
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