Women Behind Bars

I went to go see one of the most outrageous plays I have seen in a long time. It is called Women Behind Bars and has an ensemble cast of five women, five men dressed as women and one male man. Well not a mailman, a man playing a man. You know what I mean.

This farce has been around since 1976, when it played Off-Broadway with Pat Ast in the role of the evil prison matron Pauline. The role was later taken over by Divine. Playwright Tom Eyen received a Tony Award for his book of the musical DREAMGIRLS. He also wrote a string of early musicals for then unknown Bette Midler and scripts for the television series “Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman.”
He based the dialogue and plotlines of WOMEN BEHIND BARS on the exploitation films produced by Universal, Warner’s and Republic in the 1950’s.

The scene is the women’s house of detention in Greenwich Village ca. 1952. The prisoners we see locked up include an incredible range of social outcasts.

There is Mary, the sweet young thing who is eventually destroyed by the system.

Gloria, The tough lesbian who smokes like a chimney and has Camel cigarettes rolled up in one sleeve and Lucky Strike in the other.

Blanche a southern belle who still believes she is in a stock production of A Streetcar Named Desire.

JoJo, the black bombshell with a short fuse to match.

Cherie, a Marilyn Monroe wanna be who went to Hollywood only to become a prostitute.

Guadalupe, Think Carmen Miranda on Acid.

Granny, an 86-Year-old lady doing life for poisoning nine husbands.

Ada, The chick who loves to set things on fire

The Man - He plays many characters such as a doctor, Mary’s husband etc.

The Matron, The head of the cellblock.

Louise – The dingy sidekick and slave to the matron.

All in all the cast is very good. There seems to be a mixture of talents in the group some stronger than others. Look for wonderful performances from Blanche and Guadalupe with the stand out being the Matron played by a 300 lb actor? Actress? who is one of the funniest actors/actresses I have seen on stage in a long time. This actor/actress can really give Divine a run for her money. Well-known Houston director Watts uses the stage, which includes cells in the corners, in an innovative way. Watts directed last years critically hailed production of BENT. He says of Women Behind Bars that he promises to offend, insult and gross out as many audience members as possible. In this case instead of “pushing the envelope”, he says it’s more like “pushing the whole damn mail truck”.

I have purposely not mentioned any of the actor’s names. Not out of disrespect, I wanted to leave it up to you to figure out who the real women are and who the guys are. You may be surprised!

WHAT: WOMEN BEHIND BARS, at Club Resurrection, 711 West Gray St. - Houston, TX

WHEN: February 10th thru March 11 (Friday & Saturdays), Curtain 8:PM, and Sunday matinees on February 19th and March 5th, Curtain 3:00PM

R