Three Marlenes

In Development
Three Marlenes

by Jane Dingle, Mary Lewis and Liz Solo

“I am not a myth.” 
- Marlene Dietrich

Three Marlenes is a new three-woman theatre piece that explores the concept of identity as it is shaped through the lens of media.

Marlene Dietrich is viewed as an icon of feminine power, a gorgeous and intelligent liberated woman in charge of her own destiny. How much of Marlene's image was a reflection of her identity and how much was a construction of the Hollywood star makers? The identity that Marlene projected did not represent the condition of the average woman of her time and, some would argue, belied the woman behind the image. Yet her iconic persona has given generations of people an intriguing heroine, a strong female role model, an image to aspire to. How is this valuable, ultimately, to our society, our cultural identity?

In the digital age identity has taken on a whole new dimension. Millions of individuals have a media presence - fashioning their public identities, either by accident or design, whenever they post to their profiles or upload images and video to their Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, MySpace, Link'din etc. The pursuit of fifteen minutes of fame is a widespread passion. These identities we project via social media reflect how we want to be perceived – but are these mediated identities true reflections of ourselves? How do we process these identities, what does it mean, is this valuable?

Three ordinary women release their “inner Marlenes” in this new play. Three Marlenes incorporates live interaction with media sequences as it examines feminine power, gender roles, stardom and scandal through the social media personas of three very different women. Three Marlenes explores how these women relate to, perceive and customize icons of feminine power. 

InWorld Images

InWorld - by Liz Solo, Directed by Charles Tomlinson - was produced last Fall by Roles 4 Women Theatre Company at the LSPU Hall Second Space. InWorld is the story of a gamer searching for her virtual lover, lost in a real life war zone.

Here are a few images from the closing night performance.

Lucy enters te Vortex Pinnacle:
                       
Lucy attains Level 85!

Wow!

Lucy watches Hal outside via security surveillance monitor. (Hal is played by Charles Tomlinson)

Lucy searches the web for Marwa.

Lucy enters her virtual garden.

After the closing performance Liz Solo gave an artist's talk demonstrating the technologies she worked with during the creation of InWorld as well as the inspiration behind the work. Avatars joined the conversation from the Internet both via a live stream and from the virtual world of Second Life.

InWorld was made possible thanks to support from the Newfoundland and Labrador Arts Council, The Canada Council for the Arts, Media Arts Section and the Black Bag Media Collective.

Naish Takes the WTD Trophy

Jenny Naish of Roles 4 Women Theatre Company takes home the trophy at the World Theatre Day celebrations at the LSPU Hall.

Happy World Theatre Day! As part of the day's festivities Jenny Naish participated in the theatre trivia showdown hosted by Resource Centre for the Arts at the LSPU Hall. Theatre Companies around the province sent in trivia questions and four teams of two competed in the event, Jenny was paired with Brian Marler and the two won in a very close race.

Created by UNESCO in 1961, World Theatre Day is celebrated around the world on March 27th. It is also the day that Roles 4 Women Theatre Company was formed in 2005. So happy birthday to us! Each year a prominent figure is asked to deliver a message for World Theatre Day. This year's message is from actor John Malkovich:

I'm honored to have been asked by the International Theatre Institute ITI at UNESCO to give this greeting commemorating the 50th anniversary of World Theatre Day. I will address my brief remarks to my fellow theatre workers, peers and comrades.

May your work be compelling and original. May it be profound, touching, contemplative, and unique. May it help us to reflect on the question of what it means to be human, and may that reflection be blessed with heart, sincerity, candor, and grace. May you overcome adversity, censorship, poverty and nihilism, as many of you will most certainly be obliged to do. May you be blessed with the talent and rigor to teach us about the beating of the human heart in all its complexity, and the humility and curiosity to make it your life's work. And may the best of you - for it will only be the best of you, and even then only in the rarest and briefest moments - succeed in framing that most basic of questions, "how do we live?" Godspeed.
- John Malkovich