In this multi-media offering, Raquel Almazan portrays a virgin stripper, a mythical wolf-woman, an 18th-Century girl, a C.E.O., housewife and celebrity reporter that make up the pack of SHE WOLVES . This show is directed and choreographed by Dora Arreola. This solo performance that howls out a long-forgotten truth: behind every great woman, there's always a great wolf.
Women have been compared to wolves throughout history and in different cultures and parts of the world. She Wolves entertains the idea that there is some truth behind this comparison: deep down, women are wild, untamed and fearless but are rarely allowed to unleash this side of themselves. The show is a solo performance piece with characters inspired from female archetypes, mythology, pop culture and the sex industry. It has plenty of text, lots of choreography, video art and music, which together weave a surreal narrative that is dark, sensual and humorous.
The beginning character is a mythical wolf woman offering much needed ancient wisdom, the second character, an18 th century girl trapped in a world of starvation and tapeworms . The second half of the shows starts with an over the top activist who wants to rescue robot sex dolls in Venezuela , then the ultimate comical housewife with a surprising “business”at home. The Conchita character is a strong physical presentation of the Latin maid who reveals her true passions, whichthen leads us to a robotic, funny C.E.O. that parodies the state of the bush economy. The last section includes a reporter giving extreme views on what sex in Hollywood really means for women. The last character The Virgin Stripper is an explosive powerful piece on what women have always secretly wanted to shout back out to cat calling men in a rape culture.
This show tackles many of the complex issues that women deal with in their attempt to define themselves and achieve equality and freedom. Even today, after so many decades of feminism, women often find themselves trapped inside traditional roles, which limit their possibility to achieve their personal dreams; while there's still a lot of violence and sexual exploitation against women around the world. She Wolves invites men and women alike to rethink these issues.
Through the show Almazan not only shares her personal journey as a woman but gives voice to the lost women of history. She Wolves also echoes the lost female voices of today, the voices of marginalized women in prisons and the sex industry, who shared their stories and perspectives with Almazan during her research for writing this piece.
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Dora Arreola (DIRECTOR / CHOREOGRAPHER) has twenty years experience as a theater and dance artist. She has previously directed Raquel Almazán in her play The Hopefulness/La Esperanza in NYC as well as in Fronteras Desviadas/Deviants Borders, which toured in Mexico , Nicaragua , Canada and the Unites States . With her dance-theater company Mujeres en Ritual Arreola directed El Sueño de Sor Juana , (The Dream of Sister Juana) rated among “The Best of the Fringe” by The New York Sun in 2003. She has also directed and performed at the WOW Moves Dance Festival at the WOW Café in NYC, the Cuerpos en Transito International Dance Festival in Tijuana , Mexico , and the 2001 Vancouver Fringe Festival in Canada . Arreola has studied with several internationally prominent artists including Jerzy Grotowski, Susan Rethorst and Katsura Kan , and has been a guest professor herself in the Visual and Performing Arts Department at California State University , San Marcos . From 2000 to 2003, she was a key collaborator on the artistic team of Nuevo California , a bi-national theater project supported by the Animating Democracy Initiative, through San Diego Repertory Theater and Centro Cultural Tijuana. She has received numerous grants including one from the National Performance Network (NPN) Suitcase Fund in 1996, to perform and direct Opus Apocryphal in Mexico , San Diego and New York City at St. Marks Church in association with Dance Theatre Workshop. Arreola is currently an MFA candidate at the University of Massachusetts , Amherst . Upcoming projects include the direction of Cherie Moraga: The Hungry Woman, at UMASS and The Call , a new work in development by Ananya Dance Theater Company at the University of Minnesota .
A preview performance of She Wolves that took place on April 6, 2002 at P.S. 742 was directed by Natasha Tsakos, with contribution of lighting and sound design. The full production of She Wolves that ran at P.S. 742 in Nov. and Dec. 2002 was directed by Diana Lozano with contribution of lighting design and her performance as one of the wolves. Octavio Campos directed a series of She Wolves workshops for the Homestead Residencies in 2003.
SHE WOLVES PROJECT HISTORY
THE FIRST MAJOR PRESENTATION FOR SHE WOLVES, THE THEATRICAL MULTI- MEDIA PRODUCTION RAN FROM NOV. 29TH THROUGH DEC. 14TH 2002 AT Performance Space 742, 1165 S.W. 6 Street, Little Havana / Miami , Florida .
THIS PIECE IS CURRENTLY TOURING THE U.S.
POWER STUDIOS SLAM -THE VIRGIN STIRPPER-
JULY AND DECEMEBR 2002 CEO PIECE 2003
www.slammiami.com
WILD SEDUCTION GALLERY -THE VIRGIN STRIPPER AND BEYOND-
JANUARY 25th 2003
www.wildseduction.com - click here to view performance under videos, bottom box on the left, 2nd performance on reel
FAWE - FLORIDA ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN IN EDUCATION CONFERENCE-
THE WARRIOR MONOLOGUE PRESENTED FEBUARY 3RD
www.FAWE.net
PEACE PROTEST AGAINST THE WAR -C.E.O. CHARACTER AGAINST PRESIDENT BUSH-
AT BISCAYNE BLVD. RALLY FEBUARY 15 2003
www.miamiforpeace.org
SAINT THOMAS UNIVERSITY 'S WOMEN'S FAIR WITH WOMEN UNITED FOR HUMAN RIGHTS 1 st and 2 nd annual - VIRGIN STRIPPER MONOLOGUE AND TALK BACK SESSION-
APRIL 21, 2003 and MARCH 16, 2004
SHE WOLVES ARTIST RESIDENCY IN ART SOUTH HOMESTEAD CENTER-
Octavio Campos directed the Development of the text with a group of South Florida actors, visual artists and writers within readings and movement/media workshops. Miami Dade Cultural Affairs Community Grant
AUGUST 8-26 2003 Group activities on August 23rd.
www.ArtSouthHomestead.org
AS A WRITING FACILITATOR WITH ART SPRING ORGANIZATION, HAS PERFORMED EXCERPTS OF SHE WOLVES WITH INCARCERATED WOMEN
Art Spring a not for profit organization in South Florida that provides arts programs for institutionalized women and girls. Processed performance material with incarcerated women, at Broward and Dade Correctional
SEPT. 2003 to MAY 2004
www.artspring.org
ART BASEL OPENING -EXCERPTS OF SHE WOLVES PRESENTED FOR WORLD'S LARGEST VISUAL ARTS FAIR /OUTDOOR ARTS FESTIVAL EVENT-
DEC. 4TH 9-12 p.m. North Miami Avenue and NE 36TH street
www.artbasel.com
NEW ORLEANS CONVERGENCE OF ARTISTS, EDUCATORS AND ORGANIZERS JAN. 24 TH
Performs Virgin Stripper and C.E.O. Monologues at the Performance Salon
SCOPE LOS ANGELES
May 21-24, 2004
The Standard Hollywood , 8300 Sunset Boulevard
Challenging the notion of what an art fair is -scope excerpts from She Wolves for various fair events, including the Art of Performance Panel.
NATIONAL WOMEN'S STUDIES ASSOCIATION CONFERENCE
VIRGIN STRIPPER/C.E.O. MONOLOGUES
the national women's studies association conference was hosted by UWM this summer at the center for women's studies at university of Wisconsin-Milwaukee , June 17-20.
JUNE 18, 2004 AT 8 PM www.nwsa.org
ALTERNATE ROOTS CONFERENCE
NORTH CAROLINA , AUGUST 12, 2004
Performs Virgin Stripper and C.E.O. Monologues for Performance Showcase
www.alternateroots.org
BOWERY POETRY CLUB
Sept. 2004 Monologue Slam
New York City - The Virgin Stripper
NEWYORICANS SLAM
December 2004
New York City - The Virgin Stripper
PERFORMANCE SPACE 122
AVANT GARDE ARAMA
APRIL 2005
New York City - The Virgin Stripper
www.Ps122.org
GALAPAGOS
Sexplosion
Variety of female performance artist
July 2005
Williamsburg, Brooklyn
20 minute excerpt of She Wolves solo
RIKERS PRISON NYC
Female teenage population
Wolf/Warrior She Wolves excerpt
June 2007
NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL FRINGE FESTIVAL
REVISED NEW VERSION SOLO PIECE
90 MINUTES
AUG 12 TO THE 25TH 2007
GENE FRANKEL THEATRE
www.fringenyc.org
LOWER EAST SIDE FESTIVAL
Theatre for the New City
VIRIGIN STRIPPER excerpt
May 24th 2008
FOR MORE INFORMATION ON FUTURE PRESENTATIONS OF SHE WOLVES: WOMEN IN SEX, DEATH AND REBIRTH
EMAIL LALUCHAARTSCO@HOTMAIL.COM