“GOOD MORNING ANITA HILL it’s Ginni Thomas I Just Wanted To Reach Across the Airwaves and the Years and Ask You To Consider Something I Would Love You To Consider an Apology Sometime and Some Full Explanation of Why You Did What You Did With My Husband So Give It Some Thought and Certainly Pray About This and Come To Understand Why You Did What You Did Okay Have a Good Day.”
written & performed by Deb Margolin
Newsflash: Deb has just been nominated for the very prestigious “Helen Hayes Award” for “Best New Play” – Congratulations, Deb!
directed by Merri Milwe
Yes, it is the longest play title ever – it’s the full text of a voicemail Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ wife recently left for Anita Hill, 20 years after her testimony at the confirmation hearings that brought her to national attention for her allegations of sexual harassment.
In this show Margolin asks “who are we at the moment we flip someone the bird; show the middle finger to a stranger? And what is tragedy? Is it possible that one definition of tragedy involves the realization that, in order to address an oppressor, or seek redress from him successfully, we must descend to his level?” Here’s what happens when a middle-aged Jewish woman confronts her road rage at the 20-year-old intersection of young motherhood and the Anita Hill/Clarence Thomas hearings. With a fair amount of Bristol Palin tossed in.
Deb Margolin’s long awaited return to solo performance – and to the Ko Festival of Performance.
In her web review of the original NYC production Laurie Lawson gives “A big shout-out to Deb Margolin for . . . addresses the humiliation, the rage, and the frustration that accompanied what some consider a huge blight on the American justice system…Deftly defining courage (thoughts in alignment with actions) and tragedy (stooping to the level of the oppressor), she throws in much humor, videos of then (hearings) and now (Dancing with the Stars), and personal anecdotes. And just when you think this could never happen again, we are affronted with stories of sexism (Herman Cain and Joe Paterno) where justice takes a back seat to business as usual.”
“Who else but Deb Margolin would have the courage to revisit this troubling chapter in our country’ history? In a tight black dress? With high heels? And dancing?” – blogger and critic Deborah Oster Panell
About DEB MARGOLIN
Deb Margolin is a playwright, performance artist, and founding member of Split Britches Theater Company. She is the author of nine full-length solo performance pieces, which she has toured throughout the United States, and is the recipient of the 1999-2000 OBIE Award for Sustained Excellence of Performance. Deb’s work has been commissioned by The Jewish Museum of New York, Actors Theatre of Louisville, PS122, and Middle Tennessee State University. Her multi-character play Three Seconds in the Key, commissioned by the New York Public Theater and premiered by New Georges in New York, won the 2005 Kesselring Prize for Playwriting, followed by a production at the San Francisco Playhouse. A book of Margolin‘s plays and performance pieces, entitled Of All The Nerve: Deb Margolin SOLO, was published in 1999 by Cassell/Continuum Press.
Margolin lives in New Jersey, which she denies. She was honored to accept the 2008 Helen Merrill Distinguished Playwright Award. Her most recent multi-character play, Imagining Madoff, is currently running in several regional theaters,
This is her third appearance at the Ko Festival of Performance. OF BUGS, MICE AND WOMEN was performed in one of the very first Ko seasons. Her most recent appearance at Ko was in 2007 with another piece directed by Milwe. Incredibly moving for the Ko Festival audience, O YES I WILL… was a solo about her experiences undergoing treatment for lymphoma in which the personal (as in all her work) is both the political and the poetic.
About MERRI MILWIE
Merri Milwe is a dramaturg and director who has been working with Deb Margolin for many years. The two have collaborated on several solo shows, including Index to Idioms and O YES I WILL (I will remember the spirit and texture of this conversation). In addition to GOOD MORNING ANITA HILL…, Merri has directed the work of numerous solo artists, including Rae C. Wright and Marian Fontana, and directed the warmly-received play On A Bench by Neil Koenigsberg at 59E59 Theater in the summer of 2010. She is currently serving as Artistic Director of the Puffin Cultural Forum.