Last year, Aardvark Theatre’s inaugural “Estrogen Fest” shook up audiences’ hormones enough to convince the experimental troupe to bring back this celebration of all things female. What sounds like a glandular conference is really an eclectic festival of theater, dance, music and performance art honoring the many sides of womanhood.
The brainchild of Aardvark”s artistic director Ann Filmer, “Estrogen Fest” is divided into a series of comedies under the heading “Light Days” (May 22) and darker dramatic works called “Heavy Flow”; (Tuesday and May 29) all the works can be seen at The Performance Loft, 656 W. Barry Ave. (call 773-489-0843 or go to www.aardvarktheatre .com for more info.) Filmer talked recently about this endocrine-inspired showcase.
Q. Last year’s Estrogen Fest focused on plays. Why did you decide to expand it into a multimedia realm?
A. We were taking submissions for plays that spoke to women’s issues. But the ones we got just weren’t appropriate. Several had women characters, but they didn’t say anything about women. Last year, we experimented with post-show salons of original work and decided to move that up to the mainstage. I also see a lot of dance and was inspired by a strong, funny and satiric piece, “Twisted Sister,” choreographed by Cindy Brandle [co-artistic director of the Chicago Moving Company] at the Next Dance Festival. I felt it embodied what the EstrogenFest is all about.
Q. Can you give examples of some of the more adventurous work on the program?
A. I think it’s all adventurous. All of the performers will open the show with “Ave,” an invocation by beat poetess Diane di Prima. In “Oogenesis,” [co-curator] Joanie Schultz talks about how one woman coped with her unintentional fertility. Brett Neveu wrote a short play about mounting tensions at a Starbucks book-club meeting. Mindy Meyers will choreograph and dance in a piece described as “Willy Wonka meets Ayn Rand” and deals with choosing a non-traditional road. [Avant-garde choreographer] Asimina Chremos will do a dance improv expressing her mordant sense of humor. There will be a bake-off in one act. And women in their 30s, 40s and 50s will star in a play adapted from the writings of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet Anne Sexton.
Q. What is your main motivation for the festival?
A. It’s definitely not for activist reasons. We really wanted to explore what makes women unique and show how three-dimensional we are. And that’s a very broad category [no pun intended]. It’s not about us in comparison to men.
Q. So will men feel welcome?
A. Oh, of course! There will be no male bashing. This is a totally inclusive festival. No men are performing, but they are represented as playwrights and designers. We’re saying, “Come on in guys and have fun, if you dare!”
