Heather MacAllister, founder of Big Burlesque and the Fat Bottom Revue, used to say “why do queers have to do stuff so half-assed sometimes. Like in the Little Rascals: 'hey let's put on a play in the barn, and the goat will pull the curtain?'”
KS Stevens and the debuting cast and crew of Butch Mamas could have easily gotten away with a “let's put on a show in the barn and the goat will put the curtain” level show. Hell, as a masculinely presenting woman (or um...whatever) I'll go to anything that has the word “butch” in the title. Play. Movie. Puppet show. Dog show. Whatever. I don't often see woman who look like me on stage.
So in order to sell out (which they did, at many of their shows at the WOW Theater) they could have just called it Butch Mamas and called it a day. But instead, they did an ass-kicking job of showing a little slice of masculine female life. Particularly of the reproducing kind.
In case you didn't see it, Butch Mamas is about a counseling group for, guess what, butches who want to be, guess what, mamas. And then there's some fighting and yelling and of course some exes and a tiny little bit of chanting and a whole lot of cross talk and a therapist with a bell. I'm not going to give away any more than that because I think you should see it the next time it's produced, and here's why: you know these folks.
You know Corey (Ashley Brockington) the therapist with her long skirts and too high energy and voice that cracks with concern over her fighting clients.
You know Kelp (Becca Zaretzky), the ditzy helper-femme who insists she knows Alma's (Lea Robinson) gender better than Alma does. Mind you, I am NOT saying all, many, most or even some femmes are like this. Quite the opposite. But we've all dealt with that one oddball.And you definitely know Alma, the powerdyke who is really, seriously, really, not joking just OVER the processing thing.
You know Shay (Michael Abourizk), the straight cis-dude who has sex with dykes, especially when inebriated.
You know a couple like Robin (Minna Taylor) and Cassie (Jin-Xiang “Jx” Yu). And you know exes like Cassie and Teagon (Gayle Robbins).
And you know they're going to fuss at each other, and think and screw and process. And that's why you'll laugh really hard.
Butch Mamas doesn't currently have another production scheduled, but you can keep up with the play via the website, and check out KS Stevens, the play's creator competing as Miss Butch Mamas at the Miss Lez Pageant on Sunday October 11th at the Knitting Factory.
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