Split Britches is an American performance troupe, which has been producing work internationally since 1980. Academic Sue Ellen Case says "their work has defined the issues and terms of academic writing on lesbian theater, butch-femme role playing, feminist mimesis, and the spectacle of desire".Split Britches: Lesbian Practice/Feminist Performance, edited by Sue-Ellen Case, Routledge, 1997. In New York City Split Britches have long standing relationships with La Mama Experimental Theatre Company, where they are a resident company,

Wow Café WOW Café Theater is a feminist theater space and collective in East Village in New York City. In the mid-1980s, WOW Cafe Theater was central to the avant garde theatre and performance art scene in the East Village, New York City. Among the artis ...

, which Weaver and Shaw co-founded, and

Dixon Place Dixon Place is a theater organization in New York City dedicated to the development of works-in-progress from a broad range of performers and artists. It exists to serve the creative needs of artists—emerging, mid-career and established—who a ...

Founding

Split Britches was founded by

Peggy Shaw Peggy Shaw (born July 27, 1944) is an actor, writer, and producer living in New York City. She is a founding member of the Split Britches and WOW Cafe Theatre, and is a recipient of several Obie Awards, including two for Best Actress for he ...

Lois Weaver Lois Weaver (born 1949, Roanoke, Virginia) is a Guggenheim-winning artist, activist, writer, director, and Professor of Contemporary Performance at Queen Mary University of London. She is currently a Wellcome Trust Fellow in Engaging Science. H ...

, and

Deb Margolin Deb Margolin is an American performance artist and playwright. She came to prominence in the 1980s in the feminist political theatre troupe Split Britches, which she co-founded with Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw. Margolin has since created a strin ...

in New York City in 1980. Shaw and Weaver met in Europe when Weaver was touring with

Spiderwoman Theater Spiderwoman Theater is an American, Indigenous women's performance troupe that blends traditional art forms with Western theater. Their mission was to present exceptional theater performance, and to provide theatrical training and education in an ...

and Shaw with

Hot Peaches Hot Peaches was a drag theatre company in New York City that would put on one play a week, active from the 1970s-1990s. Hot Peaches was founded by Jimmy Camicia in 1972, who encountered a group of drag queens and began writing work for them to per ...

. The company started while Weaver and Shaw were performing in Spiderwoman Theater's performance of "An Evening of Disgusting Songs and Pukey Images”. This was the first time Spiderwoman had presented lesbian content and introduced Peggy as a Spiderwoman performer. During this time in the summer of 1980, Weaver began to write a performance about her 2 aunts and great aunt in the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia called ''Split Britches, The True Story.'' Split britches is a reference to the type of pants women wore while working in the fields, which allowed them to urinate without stopping work. The name of the company has been said to mimic the “split pants” of poverty and comedy. The performance was originally developed with Spiderwoman performers and was performed at the first WOW (Women's One World) Festival, founded by Shaw and Weaver, in 1980. Following a subsequent run of the performance in 1981, Weaver and Shaw decided to leave Spiderwoman, and one of the Spiderwoman performers they had been working with declined to continue with them. This led them to ask Margolin, who was a writer, to assist with writing the script, and Margolin became a part of the company for many years. The final version of ''Split Britches'' was performed at the Boston Women’s Festival in Spring of 1981 and at the Second WOW festival in Fall of 1981. The script was first published in ''Women & Performance'', and premiered on public television in 1988, directed and produced by Mathew Geller in association with WGBH/WNET Television and the NYFA ‘Artists New Works Program'. Early on in the company determined they would not spend time trying to apply for grants to support their performances, and would instead work outside of these systems using their own finances from jobs to support their performance work. This is due to a belief stated by Shaw that, "it's easier to get a job than a grant". This held true for the beginning of the company's existence, but as they became more established they began to apply for grants.

Members

Peggy Shaw (b. 1946) is a theatre artist whose work combines butch identity and dry humor. Her most recent solo show, ''RUFF'' (2012), relates her experience having a stroke. The performance was directed by Lois Weaver and toured internationally. Lois Weaver is a performing artist whose work is recognized as seminal in creating a template for lesbian performance methodologies. Her recent solo work has centered around the persona Tammy WhyNot, a 'former famous country-western singer turned lesbian performance artist'. Weaver is Professor of Contemporary Performance in the Department of Drama, Queen Mary, University of London. Weaver most often acts as the director for Split Britches. Deb Margolin, no longer a member of Split Britches, is a renowned performance artist, currently a professor at Yale University. She was primarily the wordsmith of the troupe, known for transforming visions into the final script. Margolin worked with Split Britches on ''Split Britches'' (1981), ''Beauty and the Beast'' (1982), ''Upwardly Mobile Home'' (1984), ''Little Women'' (1988), and ''Lesbians Who Kill'' (1992). The company engaged in a number of collaborations, including working with Isabel Miller and Holly Hughes to create ''Dress Suits to Hire'' (1987), with the Bloolips in ''Belle Reprieve'' (1991) and with James Neale-Kennerley in ''Lust and Comfort'' (1995).

Impact and Significance

Split Britches has worked with concepts of lesbian, queer, dyke, butch and femme identities and cultures in a context of American feminism and live arts movements which emerged through the 1970s. In ''Split Britches: Lesbian Practice/Feminist Performance'', critic and theorist Sue-Ellen Case aptly sums up the importance of the trio in the development of contemporary lesbian performance: "the troupe created a unique 'postmodern' style that served to embed feminist and lesbian issues of the times, economic debates, national agendas, personal relationships, and sex-radical role playing in spectacular and humorous deconstructions of canonical texts, vaudeville shtick, cabaret forms, lip-synching satire, lyrical love scenes, and dark, frightening explorations of class and gender violence." The troupe uses these performances to create a safe space in which non-normative sexualities and genders can occur in peace,Shoemaker, Deanna Beth. "Queers, monsters, drag queens, and whiteness: unruly femininities in women's staged performances." (2004). and it is praised for having maintained a theater space for women's artistic endeavors. Geraldine Harris has placed the work of the troupe in a "postmodern Brechtian tradition", and in an article on this troupe, describes the focus in their work on borders, as they often take on ideas of duality. With concepts of butch/femme highlighted in their work, as are concepts around

class Class or The Class may refer to: Common uses not otherwise categorized * Class (biology), a taxonomic rank * Class (knowledge representation), a collection of individuals or objects * Class (philosophy), an analytical concept used differentl ...

classism Class discrimination, also known as classism, is prejudice or discrimination on the basis of social class. It includes individual attitudes, behaviors, systems of policies and practices that are set up to benefit the upper class at the expense of ...

, and

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...

. Harris also explains that the troupe opposes the gender binary as a mode of political performance. Split Britches also examines the fetishization, objectification, and narcissistic misidentifications that cannot be separated from love, passion, and desire. The shows are often praised for the deconstructive and transformative lenses through which they are written. Split Britches' work comes from a tradition of

performance art Performance art is an artwork or art exhibition created through actions executed by the artist or other participants. It may be witnessed live or through documentation, spontaneously developed or written, and is traditionally presented to a pu ...

that is documented academically by the field of

performance studies Performance studies is an interdisciplinary academic field that uses performance as a lens and a tool to study the world. The term ''performance'' is broad, and can include artistic and aesthetic performances like concerts, theatrical events, ...

. Their work is cited as indicative of lesbian art which brings up issues of subjectivity. It has been central to the development of feminist performance theory and distinguishing lesbian critical theory, for example in the pioneering work of Jill Dolan on the feminist spectator, Sue-Ellen Case on butch/femme aesthetics and Alisa Solomon and Kate Davy on feminist performance contexts.

Methodology

In a dissertation by Deanna Beth Shoemaker, Split Britches was said to use games, fantasies, songs, dance numbers, and monologues to address issues including female desire, power, and lesbian identity. The characters in the performances play on gender and sexuality binaries, and explore issues of lesbian femme identity within and without the butch/femme dynamic. The company begin by exploring a personal obsession or frustration, like

Tennessee Williams Thomas Lanier Williams III (March 26, 1911 – February 25, 1983), known by his pen name Tennessee Williams, was an American playwright and screenwriter. Along with contemporaries Eugene O'Neill and Arthur Miller, he is considered among the thre ...

Aileen Wuornos Aileen Carol Wuornos (; born Pittman; February 29, 1956 – October 9, 2002) was an American serial killer. In 1989–1990, while engaging in street prostitution along highways in Florida, she shot dead and robbed seven of her male clients. Wuo ...

, which is often take from popular culture. Shaw has said this is because through popular images they are able to maintain a queer aesthetic while keeping an audience engaged. Weaver and Shaw always try to make reference to a comedy duo from the 1950s or 1960s, which is often Mike Nicols and Elaine May, due to their comedic structure and gender dynamics. Next the company make lists, including a list of things they want to do on stage, current social issues, cultural icons, and stories they want to tell. They then choose characters that are split between good qualities and bad qualities, which Weaver has said is "like loving a part of yourself and your past". Despite playing characters, Weaver and Shaw say they always play themselves, including personal stories and anecdotes. Weaver has said "In the process of making personal performance, lying is always an option and creating truth is the goal." Next they begin collecting found objects, and working on music to incorporate. Finally the company begin rehearsals, weaving together the disparate fragments. Throughout their history Weaver has functioned as the primary director. In recent years, public engagement and dialogue with the public have become an integral part to the Split Britches creative process. This takes the form of workshops and public conversations, often moderated through formats from Weaver's Public Address Systems project.

Public Engagement

From 2002-2003 Weaver and Shaw designed and ran workshops in four women's prisons in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

and the UK as part of the project 'Staging Human Rights', initiated by People's Palace Projects. The workshops intended to use performance to talk about human rights with female prisoners.

Controversies

At the time Split Britches was formed,

cross-dressing Cross-dressing is the act of wearing clothes usually worn by a different gender. From as early as pre-modern history, cross-dressing has been practiced in order to disguise, comfort, entertain, and self-express oneself. Cross-dressing has play ...

and drag were popular, so this has become a central part of some of their performances. Some of the performances by the troupe have come under fire for the portrayal of certain characters. Specifically, the coproduction of ''Belle Reprieve'' by Split Britches and Bloolips, a group of gay drag performers. In this performance,

gender norms A gender role, also known as a sex role, is a social role encompassing a range of behaviors and attitudes that are generally considered acceptable, appropriate, or desirable for a person based on that person's sex. Gender roles are usually cente ...

are erased, and the binary is played upon. This performance has been critiqued due to the female actors dressing as men. Because most instances of cross-dressing are males dressing up ultra-feminine, this performance was unusual. It was said that this type of performance further holds men to be superior to women. Additionally, it has been criticized that cross-dressing reinforces the

gender binary The gender binary (also known as gender binarism) is the classification of gender into two distinct, opposite forms of masculine and feminine, whether by social system, cultural belief, or both simultaneously. Most cultures use a gender bina ...

, which so many feminists have worked to eliminate.

Awards

2017: Innovative Theatre Achievement Award 2014: Hemispheric Institute of Performance Senior Fellowship, Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw 1999: Obie, best performer Peggy Shaw for ''Menopausal Gentleman'' 1991: Obie, best ensemble, Split Britches and Bloolips, for ''Belle Reprieve'' 1988: Obie, best performer Peggy Shaw for ''Dress Suits to Hire'' 1985: The Villager Award for best ensemble

Shows

''Unexploded Ordnances (UXO),'' 2016-present ''RUFF'', 2012–present ''What Tammy Found Out'', 2012–present ''Lost Lounge'', 2009–2011 ''Miss America'', 2008–2009 ''Retro-Perspective'', 2007–present ''MUST'', 2007–present ''Diary of a Domestic Terrorist'', 2005 ''What Tammy Needs to Know'', 2004 ''To My Chagrin'', 2003 ''Miss Risque'', 2001 ''It's a Small House and We Lived in It Always'', 1999 ''Little Women'', 1998 ''Little Women, The Tragedy'', 1998 ''Salad of the Bad Cafe'', 1998 ''Valley of the Dolls'', 1997 ''Faith and Dancing'', 1996 ''Menopausal Gentleman'', 1996 ''Lust and Comfort'', 1994 ''You're Just Like My Father'', 1993 ''Lesbians Who Kill'', 1992 ''Anniversary Waltz'', 1990 ''Of All The Nerve, 1990'' ''Belle Reprieve'', 1990 ''Little Women, The Tragedy'', 1988 ''Dress Suits for Hire'', 1987 ''Patience and Sarah'', 1987 ''Upwardly Mobile Home'', 1984 ''Beauty and the Beast'', 1982 ''Split Britches, The True Story'', 1980

Notes

References

*''Split Britches: Lesbian Practice/Feminist Performance'', edited by Sue-Ellen Case, Routledge, 1997. {{ISBN, 9780415127653

External links

*http://www.split-britches.com/
Guide to the Split Britches Archive, 1978-2000
the Fales Library and Special Collections, New York University 1980 establishments in New York City Feminism in New York City Feminist theatre Lesbian culture in New York (state) Lesbian feminist mass media LGBT theatre companies LGBT theatre in the United States Organizations established in 1980