@dramatistsguild @suzemallen

           Gender Parity has brought forth many theatres and organizations in the Bay Area like Yeah, I Said Feminist, Works by Women San Francisco, The Mothertongue Feminist Theatre Collective, 3Girls Theatre, all aiming to right the wrong for women playwrights and get them produced as much as their male counterparts. Those Women Productions is one such group in the East Bay.

           Founded in 2014, on International Women’s Day, by Carol S. Lashof and Elizabeth L. Vega, Those Women have a mission to “[explore] hidden truths of gender and power and to bring marginalized voices to the center of the stage, to ask bold questions and instigate conversation.” Those Women like to turn patriarchy on its ear by focusing on women’s voices and perspectives in the stories of Dead White Guys like Homer and Chaucer, Shakespeare and Sophocles.

           Their recent offering in September, In Plain Sight, an anthology of six original short plays with fresh takes on classic stories, ran for three weeks at The Metal Shop Theater in Berkeley’s Elmwood neighborhood. Founder and Playwright-in-Residence Carol Lashof and Producing Artistic Director Libby Vega invited directors Norman Johnson and Christine Keating to collaborate. The plays, send-ups of Cinderella, Medea, La Llorona, Briseis, Chryseis and the Wife of Bath included: Palace Watch by Kat Meads, Pankhadi and the Prince by Patricia Reynoso, Lee Brady’s Mississippi Medea, Mimu Tsujimura’s My Name Is Mother, and Carol Lashof’s When Briseis Met Chryseis, and After the Prologue.

           East Bay audiences love Those Women’s mission so much that were named “Best Year Old Theater Company of 2015” by The East Bay Express. Look for a full-length World Premiere coming in 2016. And be sure to visit their website http://www.thosewomenproductions.com.

sallen@dramatistsguild.com