step two i'm every woman exercise
Imagine that you are a director who is applying for a grant of $500,000 from the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) to adapt and produce the Lysistrata for performance in a major city. Those awarding the grant will want to know why you think the play is relevant to a contemporary audience and exactly how you plan to make the play resonate with them. The committee who will be reviewing your application will want you to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the play but also to be willing to explore the most creative ways to adapt it. Pretend below that this is the questionnaire that they have asked you to fill out.
1. What do you consider to be the most important themes in the Lysistrata?
2. If you could not use 5th century Athens for your setting, where in the world would you set the play?
3. To what extent is the use of female sexuality in leadership consistent with contemporary notions of feminism? In other words, would a portrayal of women similar to how Aristophanes' portrays Lysistrata and her followers degrade or empower women today?
4. If you could not use women as the protagonists of the play, and instead had to select another minority group that is suffering from the poor leadership of the majority, what minority group would you choose--and who would be the majority group? And, to continue this inquiry, what would be this minority group's unexpected power (like the power of sexuality in Lysistrata)? Provide a 100-word synopsis of such a play.
5. What audiences do you think would find your play most relevant and why? Are there new audiences who perhaps are unfamiliar with the play who could be reached by your production?
6. Borrowing from Aristophanes' own techniques, describe one scene in your play, as you envision it, that would call attention to the issues you want to raise in a very serious light (bringing sorrow and grief to your audience); and describe another scene that would make your audience laugh for its cleverness and absurdity.
7. Give your play a title and a tagline.