Carol S. Lashof, cofounder of Those Women Productions and the playwright behind Witch Hunt, speaks with Emily Wilson of Bay Area publication 48Hills. They discuss the history of Those Women Productions, as well as Lashof’s process of researching and writing Witch Hunt, a new drama that examines the Salem witch panic from the perspectives of the real-life figures whose stories have been historically overlooked.

“’We were frustrated trying to get our stories made, so rather than rant and rave we started making our own theater.’”

“‘We keep talking about witch hunts, and every time I pick up the paper, the president is complaining about witch hunts, and we’re arguing about whose truths get to be heard,” Lashof said. “Then in a deeper way the United States government and some people living here are demonizing folks they think don’t belong. Tituba, even though she’d been Christianized and assimilated, would never be accepted into Christian culture and there are clear parallels to what’s happening now with immigrants.’” 

Those Women are in the press! Theatrius reviewed Those Women Production’s latest fully staged show, the new drama Witch Hunt, which focuses on the origins and untold stories behind the Salem witch panic.

“The question of how to tell an unrecorded story plagues artists and historians alike. At Salem’s notorious trials, Tituba was the first to confess to practicing witchcraft—but we know little else about her. In Arthur Miller’s classic “The Crucible,” she appears as a victim of the pilgrims’ manipulation, but Lashof portrays her as the master of her own fate.” – Fritz Mad’Laine, Theatrius

“For decades, Arthur Miller’s ‘The Crucible’ has defined the Salem Witch Trials. Miller’s 50s play uses accusations of “witchcraft” to fight McCarthyism. But Miller centers his story on John Proctor, a wealthy white landowner. In ‘Witch Hunt,’ Carol Lashof smartly focuses on the actual victims: women, particularly indigenous women.” – Jordan Freed, Theatrius

Those Women Production’s latest staged production, Witch Hunt, presents a completely new look at a seemingly well-known era in American history: the Salem witch panic. Playwright Carol S. Lashof’s new drama explores the origins of the infamous era and uncovers its ties to our present moment in history, told from the perspective of Tituba, a captive indigenous woman who was the first to be accused of witchcraft.

“Most of what’s in the popular culture [on the Salem witch panic] is a gross distortion of the historical record.” – Playwright Carol S. Lashof on research and motivation for writing Witch Hunt, on KALW

Lashof, director Elizabeth Vega, and cast members Renee Rogoff and Sofia Angelopoulos share their thoughts on bringing this work to the stage, in interviews with local radio stations KPFA, KPOO, and KALW.

“You think about how much you think you know…I was mind-blown as to [Tituba’s] story…It’s the story of a woman who is ripped away from her home in the most violent and traumatic way…but you also see the strength of the human spirit through her…she finds the joy and the value in the very little that she has, and she’s willing to do anything to protect it.” – Actress Renee Rogoff on playing Tituba, on KPOO

“[Carol and I] have the same feeling that we want our audiences to take away. And her job is to convey that feeling on the page, and my job is to stand that feeling up and put it into action.” – Director Elizabeth Vega on collaboration with Lashof, on KPFA

THOSE WOMEN PRODUCTIONS ANNOUNCES ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP AND THEME FOR NEW SEASON

Those Women Productions is pleased to announce that Lily Tung Crystal joins our leadership team this season as an Associate Artist. She will partner with Artistic Director Elizabeth Vega, Managing Director Carol Lashof, and returning Associate Artist Norman Patrick Johnson.  Our main events for 2018 will be a staged reading of The Melting Pot by Carol Lashof; Shifting Spaces, a trio of one-act plays which shift the way we think about gender roles and identity; and the West Coast Premiere of Woman On Fire by Marisela Treviño Orta.

Those Women Productions was founded in 2014 by Carol Lashof and Elizabeth Vega with a mission to stage hidden truths of gender and power. In 2015, it was named “Best Year-Old Theater Company” by the East Bay Express. From the beginning, Those Women Productions has practiced “Radical Hospitality”: All shows are choose-your-own price; everyone is welcome regardless of ability to pay.

“Crossing Borders” is the theme for our season of new plays planned for 2018. The borders in question are literal and metaphorical, metaphysical and actual; they are of gender, race, nationality, and space-time.

The season begins with a staged reading of The Melting Pot, by Carol S. Lashof. The Melting Pot remixes early 20^th century sources, including Israel Zangwill’s wildly popular melodrama of the same name, to tell a quintessentially American love story – Boy meets Girl, and Nation meets Metaphor. The reading will be directed by Elizabeth Vega and will feature performances by Lily Tung Crystal and Norman Patrick Johnson. It will also feature original music by Berkeley jazz musician and composer Erika Oba. Performances are Saturday, January 20, 4 pm and 8 pm at the Temescal Art Center, 511 48th St, Oakland.

Those Women Productions received a generous grant from the Berkeley Civic Arts Commission this year, which will help support our spring production at the Live Oak Theater in Berkeley: Shifting Spaces is a trio of bold one-act plays featuring characters who fight to claim their full human identities within restrictive social structures.

The plays of Shifting Spaces are:

• vessels (World Premiere)

It’s Germany—1944. Are you a bitch or a whore? Is she your lover, friend, sister, acquaintance, colleague, or occasion for sin?

Commissioned for the Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, this poetic drama reveals the little-known stories of lesbians in Nazi Germany, written by Kim Yaged, directed by Elizabeth Vega.

• S/He (World Premiere)

On the eve of surgery, Sam comes home to pack and to confront his mother about being trans.

A high-stakes, lyrical encounter between an African-American mother and her transgender son, by Bay Area playwright Nick Hadikwa Mwaluko, directed by Norman Patrick Johnson.

• Revelation (West Coast Premiere)

It’s judgment day, and John, a young man, finds himself buried beside Mary, an old woman, who claims to recognize him. But she’s nothing like any woman he’s ever known.

A darkly comic tour through changing gender roles and social expectations, by Canadian playwright Shirley Barrie, directed by Lily Tung Crystal.

Shifting Spaces opens Friday, March 23, 2018 (press opening), and plays Fridays and Saturdays at 8 pm and Sundays at 2 pm through April 8 (no performance on Easter Sunday, April 1) at the Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.

Those Women Productions finishes our season with the West Coast Premiere of Woman on Fire, an explosive and relevant play by Bay Area favorite Marisela Treviño Orta, directed by Elizabeth Vega.

Set in 2002 under the specter of the 9/11 terror attacks, Woman on Fire is a re-imagining of Sophocles’ Antigone set along the Arizona/Mexico border. The ghost of a woman who died while crossing the border haunts the unwilling heroine Juanita, the wife of a U.S. border patrolman. Juanita finds herself torn between the law of man and a higher law when she must decide whether to put her husband’s career and their marriage at risk in order to give the restless spirit the proper burial she demands.

Woman on Fire opens in August, 2018, at the Live Oak Theater, 1301 Shattuck Avenue, Berkeley.

Those Women Productions practices Radical Hospitality: we welcome everybody to our shows regardless of their ability to pay. We also like to pay our artists, in recognition of their valuable work and because we love them and want them to have food. How do we manage this? With help from our extraordinarily generous community, including many of you who are reading this newsletter right now. In fact, (spoiler alert) we’re about to launch our annual fundraising campaign to make our 2018 season a success. Please consider an early donation. We will sing your praises in the programs of our shows all year long!