A Worldwide Event For Peace
HER THREEFOLD PLAN - Recipient of the Bay Area Critics Circle Award
THE LYSISTRATA PROJECT (a worldwide event for Peace) took place on 03/03/2003, as theatre artists from every corner of the planet raised their collective voices: producing readings of Aristophanes' comic anti-war play Lysistrata. The ancient masterwork (both satire and prayer) rendered a spiritual thunderclap around the globe that night, raising the volume of opposition that existed in the weeks prior to the eventual bombing and occupation of Iraq. 1,029 official reading were held in 59 countries on six continents.
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The daring template for the event was imagined by New York City theatre artists Kathryn Blume & Sharron Bower, and it quickly blossomed into a global bouquet. In the Bay Area of California, Upon These Boards brought an epic production (featuring a cast of 100 performers) to the stage of Berkeley Rep which played twice in one night with 1,200+ audience members in attendance. There were only four weeks to prepare once the clarion call was circling the globe.
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Randall Stuart helped several groups on their preparations, and also wrote an adaptation of the classic called "Her Threefold Plan" while assembling a huge cast of Bay Area actors from various theater companies: American Conservatory Theater, Berkeley Rep, Aurora Theatre Co, Porchlight, & Golden Thread, among others. The beguiling vocalists Katy Stephan & Connie Doolan partnered with the dynamic drum ensemble Sons & Daughters of Orpheus to create a whirl of dance, choral chant, and high revelry. The event was awarded the Bay Area Critics Circle Award, and the money raised at the event was tithed to the work of Amnesty International, MoveOn.org, and Not In Our Name.
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