EARTH ONION SCRAP BOOK.pdf

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EARTH ONION SCRAP BOOK. summer tour 1971. women's improvisational theatre 1509 que st.n. w. wash. d.c.Author(s): Robin A. EvansSource: Off Our Backs, Vol. 2, No. 2 (October, 1971), pp. 1-5Published by: off our backs, inc.Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25783233.

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2/6

off

our

backs

sttmmer

V

|

v

^

9

7

October

1971/volume

,

number

cob

special

features

2

WOMEN'S

HEATRE

Earth

Onion

6 ALDERSON

RISON

15

"

CUBA

IARY

18 WOMEN'S

TUDIES

20

WOMENEARNING

36 HEAVYOMMENTARY

oob

regular

features

7

BRINGINGT

HOME

28

SURVIVAL

STRUGGLE

30

FICTION

8

Abortion

12

s

Usual

32

CULTURE

ULTURE

14

CHICKEN ADY

38

LETTERS

14

ADS

1

CORRECTION:

In

volume

I,

number

23

on

page

6

there

was a

mix-up

and

Sandy

was

misquoted.

We

are

sorry

for

that mistake

Sandy.

HELP

We

pay

10


3/6

earth

onion

scrapbook

^"tn

the

beginning.

We

are

EARTH

ONION,

a

women's

impro

visational

theater

group.

There

are

eight

of

us

"Onions"

(women)

and two

"scallions"

(Zafra

and

Blake).

We

decided that

it

would

be

far

out to

take

ourselves

on

tour for

a

month

of the

summer.

We

were

excited

by

our

work and

wanted

to show

people

what

we

had

learned,

what

we

could

do,

what

they

could

do

and

we

also wanted

to

spread

around

some

positive

energy

and

have

a

good

time. All

summer

we

worked

on

our

regular

material

as

well

as

creating

a

fairy

tale

about

a

little

girl

named

Elsa who

runs

away

to

a

magic

land,

the

Tontwald.

The

summer

went fast and before

we

knew it

was

time

to

leave

on our

tour.

A friend fixed

up

an

old mail truck

for^

us,

we were

given

some

money

and

we

had

five

prearranged

performances

lined

up

in various

parts

of

the south. With

old

mattresses in

the back of the

mail

truck,

stacks of back issues of off

our

backs,

loads

of

raisins,

pumpkin

seeds and

nuts,

sleeping

bags,

pampers

and a 1967 Renault

the

Earth Onion

Women's

Improvisational

Theater

group

left

Washington,

D.C.

c

-

my

diary

~W

SUNDAY.

We

were

supposed

to leave

Wyoming

Avenue

commune

at

11a.m.

for

a

week

of

work

in

the

country.

At

11:30

Kathy

called

and said

the

axle

broke

on our

mail

truck

and

couldn't

be

fixed

until

tomorrow,

Monday.

We decided

to

leave

anyway

and

have

the

mail truck

brought

out

to

us

next week.

I

wanted

to

put

off

leaving

because

I feared

our

week

of

rehearsal.

I'm

afraid

we

won't

be

able

to

get

a

good performance

together

in

a

week.

We

finally

leave

D.C.

at

4p.m.

after

alot

of

running

around

and

going

to

a

Latin American

fiesta

in the

park

accross

the

street

to eat

tostados,

Peruvian

potato

salad and

lots of

other

goodies.

We

arrived

in the

mountains

around

7p.m.

in

a

rainstorm.

The

place

is

really

nice

only

everyone seems initally to feel a

little

awkward;

small mountain

cabin

swarming

with

eight

women,

two babies

and two

dogs*

who still

have

nervous

barks

left

from the

lovely

city

atmosphere.

We

have

a

good

dinner,

talk about

our

pasts,

plan

the schedule

for

the

^

week

and

pass

out

at 12

midnight?

^^the

bewitching

hour.

^@?

MONDAY.

Here

we are

all alone

1n the

moun

tains.

Its

a

beautiful

place

and

its

what

we

have

all been excited

about.

A

week

alone

with solid rehearsals

and

time

to

get

to know each other.

Yet

we

all

seem

alittle

disoriented,

which

we

are

And

I'm

homesick

for

my

routine and

my

man.

Our afternoon

rehearsal is

great.

We

go

to the

top

of

the

hill

and rehearse

our

play

naked with the

exception

of

flowers

that

we

all

put

in our

pubic

hairs.

We all

dig

looking

at

each others

bodies,

noticing

various

kinds

of

scars

and that

we

almost

all

have

one

big

and

one

small breast.

In

the

evening

we

all

try

on

costumes and

laugh

at

how

crazy

we can

look.

TUESDAY.

I

had

a

rough

time

sleeping.

The air is muggy and I'm constipated.

Moming

rehearsal

is

fun.

We all

give

each

other

back

and

face

massages.

We

all

feel

great

and

jump

into

the cool

mountain

stream

next

to the

cabin.

Some

of

us

leave

to

go

to

the

clinic?one

of

us

has

a

sore

crotch

and

wants

to check

it.

Today

I'm

cooking

with

Julie.

So

we

baked

some bread

and

are

making

a

good

soup.

I

hope

I

sleep

well

tonight.

I'm

no

longer

constipated..hooray

WEDNESDAY.

Surprise--Kathy

(an

old

member^

of

our

group

who

isn't

going

on

our

tour)

came

out

to

the

country.

She watched

our

play

and

said

she

thought

it

was

great.

We

all

felt

really

relieved.

We decided

to

have

a

feast

for

dinner.

We

all

dressed

each

other

in wild

scarves

and

fancy

material

and

then

the

cooks

for

the

evening

told

us to sit

in

a

circle

and

close

our

eyes.

We

were

then

fed

fan

tastic

food

and

drinks

with

our

eyes

closed.

We

finally

opened

our

eyes

and

saw

loads

of

wonderful

food

and

drink

spread

out

in front of

us. We danced

and

played

and

had

a

great

time.

10p.m.

had

to

go

down the mountain

for

telephone

call.

We

lost

our

way

on

the

way

home.

My

car

got

stuck

in some

rocks.

I'm

pissed

and

tired.

We

finally

found the way home. SLEEP.

******

SUNDAY. Our

first

performance.

GREAT,

FANTASTIC,

Loads of friends

came

out

to

the

country

to

see

us,

BEAUTIFUL

DAY

GREAT DAY.

WE

ARE

ALL

HAPPY AND

HIGH.,

iy.

A

Page

2/off

our

backs/October,

1971

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4/6

our

tour

omens from

the i

hing

r S

he

creative,

heaven

the

gentle,

wind

Coming

To Meet

(Kou)

...a

situation in

which the

principle

of

darkness,

after

having

been

eliminated,

furtively

and

unexpectedly

obtrudes

again

from

within

and

below. Of

its

own

accord the

female

principle

comes

to

meet the

male.

It

is

an

unfavorable and

dangerous

situation,

and

we

must

understand and

promptly

prevent

the

possible

consequences.

...linked

with the fifth month

(June-July),

principle

of

darkness

gradually

becomes

ascendent

again.

The

Judgment

Coming

to

meet.The

maiden is

powerful.

One

should not

marry such a maiden.

...The

inferior

man

rises

only

because the

superior

man

does

not

regard

him

as

dangerous

and

so

lends

him

power.

If

he

were

resisted from the first

he

could

never

gain

power.

...When heaven and

earth

come

to meet each

other,

all

creatures

prosper,

but

coming together

must

be free of

dishonest,

ulterior

motives,

otherwise

harm

will result.

The

Image

Under

heaven,

wind:

The

image

of

Coming

to

Meet.

WThus does the

prince

act

when

disseminating

his

commands

and

proclaiming

them to

the four

quarters

of

heaven.

peeling

onions

Y

oute

The

Earth

Onion

is

peeling

its

ter

layers

and

growing...we

did

the

first

part

of

practice

on

the

play

this

afternoon

naked,

placing

ferns

and

flowers in

our

pubic

hair,

dancing

on

the

grass,

singing

to

the

sky

and

the

mountains

and

the

river.

In

many

ways

we're

stripping

off

fears

and

inhibitions

and

finding

new

levels of

self

to

share

with

each

other.

It

feels

so

much

like

an

idyllic

community

that

I

hate

to

say

it

for

fear

it

won't

remain

this

way.

But

our

life

together

today

was

good;

that I

know?the

quiet

as

people

rose

to

their own

rhythms,

exercised,

bathed

in

the

stream,

read, wrote, did yoga and meditation,fed

the

babies

and

then

followed

the

practice

schedule

we

had

outlined

the

night

before.

?v

prac

tf/e

sea./(tons

goi

n'home

"A

goi

p.'

home,

bah, bah,

bah,

bah,

bah,

A

goin' home,

home,

home, home..."

rows

ta.

Back

down

South to

all

my

fears

and

hatreds,

loves

and sor

"Hometown

girl

made

good"

I

feel

like

as

we

arrive in

Atlan

I

am

here

now

for

a

reason,

no

longer

a

passive

visit

home.I'm with my friends and sisters, no

longer

a

lone,

scared

adoles

cent

battling against

hard

walls

of

people.

It's

called

growing

up

but

it's*hard to

believe

it's

so

good.

Me

transfer the

house

where I

spent

my

girlhood

into

Onion

ville.

Everyone

else

is

grateful

for

the

homeiness of

subur

bia

after

the

strangeness

of

the

road,

but

I

am

disconnected:

part

of

me

with

the

Onions,

part

with

the

past.

As

we

go

through

the

first

and

final

harried,

grim

rehears

al

before

our

performance,

my

parents

and

sister

(having

been

at

the

lake

for

the

week)

arrive.

They

act

upset

but

don't

say

anything

as

^iyht

Onions

rush

around

like

White

Tornados

getting

he

house

in

shape.

Joanne in

costume

introduces

herself

as

Zelda

the

Witch.

They

leave in

about

fifteen

minutes but

the

damage

is

done--bringing

back

to

me

all

the

old

primal

feelings

of

rage,

guilt

and

insecurity.

And

I'm

to

perform

in

three

hours--have to

totally

create

my

character

who

is

of

all

things

a

good,

strong,

whole

human

being.

I'm

feeling

little

support,

people

are

saying

it's

going

to

be

awful,

yet

if

they

are

sympathetic

and

coddle me

I

won't

get

through

it. I

begin

a

scene,

break

into

tears?it's

not

coming

through.

Telling

the

rest

to

go

on

to

something

else

I

shut

myself

in

a

bedroom and

pound

on

the

walls until

it

hurts.Then I begin to turn all of that nervous

energy

into

creation?

I

make

myself

move.

Slowly,

slowly,

I

transform

myself

as

adoles

cent

horror

into

Zenobia,

calm,

beautiful,

exciting

leader of

the

Tontwald.

Images

pop

into

my

head,

gestures

that

are

real,

are

part

f

the

Zenobia

that

is in

me.

Returning

to

the

group,

I

try

it

out

and

they

love

it.

They

coach me

to

exaggerate

more

and

it

grows

and

grows

into

wholeness.^

nce

again

I

am

amazed

at

this

wonderful

energy

that

transforms

(neuroses

into

beauty

and

strength.

ness

October,1971/off

ur

backs/Page

3



5/6

earth

onion

scrapbook

my

tour notes

Won

the

road?First

day

in

Renault,

seconc^W

^in

mail truck. Both

days

high

spirits.

^

Eager

to

explore

what

lies

ahead.

Full

of

revisions

and

thoughts

for

the

play.

Talk

with

people

along

the

road?waitresses,

gas

station

attendants.

Women's conscious

ness

again?Strong

positive

feelings.

No

hace,

Tittle fear.

Atlanta. Women's

May

Day

Conference.

Living Nightmare.

Panic. The

play

must

be

revised.

The

new

cast

(which

I have

a

major

part in)

must

learn

the

new

version

and

perform

it

in

two

days. Many

of us

start to

loose

confidence. So

much

work,

so

little

time,

so

little

energy.

Confu

sion

among

ourselves.

How

can we

work

and

relate

to

this conference as

well?

Why

are we

here?

We eat at a health food restaurant late

at

night?all

exhausted.

The

atmosphere

is

cozy, comfortable,

the

food

good,

its

run

by

sisters and

brothers?like

dreams

of

after

the

revolution.

We

give

a

workshop

at the

conference.

I'm

directing.

Seventy-five

women

come?all

factions.

Highest

energy

I've

ever

seen

in

our warm

ups.

Twenty-five

women

form

a

work

machine,

then

a

survival

machine.

I

understand machines for

the

first

time.

These

are

total,

uncontrived.

People

have

really

worked

hard.

I

guide

them into

smaller

groupings

to

form

sound

circles.

Laying

on

backs with heads

in

center,

breathing

and

letting

out

sounds.

This

is

my

favorite

exercise;

I want to

share

it.

I

am

very

loving

with

the

group

I di

rect. Their

eyes

are

closed;

their

faces

reflect

peaceful

joy.

I'm

thrilled.

They

rise from this, run together, throw off

clothes,

sing

Revolutionary

Love.

I

think

its

beautiful.

I'm

high

on

the

spirit;

feel

proud

that

we

brought

people

together,

for

thirty

minutes.

I

know it

won't

last,

but

believe

these moments

are

valid. It's

like

falling

in

love?the

first

few

weeks

t

last

forever,

but

it

makes them

no

a

beautiful.

m

f

riday

the

13th

r

we

V

if

^

Friday

the

13th lived

up

to

its

name.

The

night

before

had

invaded

Julie's

parents'

home

?

all

of

us

in

dire need of

a

little

southern

comfort.

With all

but

brother

Ross

away

there

was

plenty

of

room

for

us

to

spread

out

and

relax.

Our

play

desperately

needed

more

rehearsal

time for we

decided

a

couple

of

days

previously

that

we

wanted

to

make

some

major

changes

in

it

right

away.

Julie's

parents

unexpectedly

arrived

as

we were

in the

midst

of

our

morning

rehearsal.

Freak out.

We

frantically

rushed

about to

clean

up.

Sink

full

of dishes

and

baby

shit

on

sheets in

parent's

room.

Poor

Julie's

mother

obviously

stunned.

They

left

rather

suddenly

after

fifteen

min

utes

or

so

and

the

house

was

ours

again.

With still

much work

to

be

done,

frustration set

in

as

the

afternoon

wore on

and

the

time to

leave

for our

performance

neared...

We

decided at

about

five

p.m.

to

go

back

to

our

original

version.

The

audience

was a

long

time

arriving

and

we

calmed

our

nerves

with

a

jug

of

wine.

Marianna

used

the mail

truck

to

pick

up

scads

of

fourth

grade

boys

who

heckled and

giggled

and were

generally

disruptive.

They

were

a

striking

contrast

to

the

radical

lesbian

sisters

to

arrive

later.

The

anxiety

lessened

as our play got rolling and it went beautifully. Things that

had

seemed

strained in

rehearsal,

came

together

in

performance,

and

the

audience

response

was

very

positive.

One

mother in

her

forties who

had

offered

to

take care

of

Zafra

and

Blake came

up

to me

smiling

and

extending

her

hand

to

me

warmly

congratulating

us.

Singing,

we

headed

back to

the

suburbs

for

macaroni,

hash,

brownies

and

fantastic

butter

pecan

ice

cream.

Being

stoned

and

very

happy

we

started

improvising

during

dinner

by

adopting

^-"tish

accents,

and

the

evening

ended

in

rollicking

jolly

goodj

fun.

folly

beach

Onions

go

to

the

beach

to

rest

and

have

some

fun,

alas

there

appears

to

be

no

sun.

The

first

night

is

spent

in

a

tent in

the

sand,

But

a

storm

nearly

finishes

us

and

the

land.

We

then

rent

a

cottage

that

is

very

very

strange,

The

only

thing

that

seem

normal

is

the

sink

and

the

range.

After

three

days

of

floods

the

sun

finally

appears,

Unfortunately

we

must

leave,

we

realize with tears.

Our

next

performance

is

in

less

than

a

day,

So off

we

all

go

feeling pretty

OK

Our

Ik

onions

turning

inward

r

^

the

August

19, Charlotte,

N.C.

Slept

pretty

late.

The rehearsal

got

underway

after

lunch

with

Kathy

directing.

There

was

a

lot

of

irritability

and

confusion

around

how

much

energy

was

expected

from

each

individual in

a

complete

run

through

of

the

play

in

the

day

of

the

performance.

I

felt

more

like

being

off

by

myself

and

was

anxious and

out of

touch with

everyone.

I

took

some

time

out

later

that

afternoon

and

threw

an

I

Ching

which

spoke

of

Contemplation

and

Standstill.

The

fifty

excited

women

we'd

been told

were

waiting

for

us

in

Charlotte turned

out

to

be

a

mixed

bag.

We

performed

in

a

neighborhood playground

and

the

audience

ranged

from

teenage

basketball players

to one

woman

who referred to us

as

"chicks" and

suggested

we

needed

more

"yang"

in

the

group.

We

didn't

start

the

performance

on

time

because

we

kept

hoping

for

more

people

to

gather

and

thus

the

play's

last

scenes

were

awfully

hard to

see

in

semi-darkness.

The

feelings

we

had about this

performance

were

mixed.

I

didn't

feel the

high

that had

been with

us

in

Sperry

vilie and

Atlanta,

but

understandably,

some

of

that

was

due to

the

bugs,

intermittant

lightning

and

general

darkness.

Back

at

women's

house

we

had

bowls of

milk

and

blueberries

and

later,

11

hungry,

made

popcorn

and

talked.

Bedtime

came

late,

at

atenrs^j

Page

4/off

our

backs/October,

1971



6/6

earth

onion

scrapbook

ft-bragg

Bfhe

Army

own f

Ft.

Bragg

is

a

crystali^^B

Wzation of America. Fayetteville is dedi- V

cated

to

the

principles

of

shabby

sensual

^

pleasures.

You

get

the

pleasure,

we'll

I

get

the

money,

thank

you

very

much.

Pawn

I

shop

after

go-go joint,

after

restaurant,

after movie

theater,

after

jewelry

store,

after... When

we

pulled

into

Fayetteville,

we

walked

down the

street

to

the

restau

rant. After

being

so

comfortable

with

ourselves?the

way

we

looked,

the

way

we

are?it

was

a

super

shock

to

be

in

such

an

environment.

We felt

weird

and bizarre.

Like creatures from

some

other

planet.

Like

we

were

being

seen

as

mammary

glands

and

vaginas.

As

we

ate,

GI's came

by

the

window

and made contorted faces

at

us.

"Come

on

baby,

come on

out

here,

we'll

show

you

girls

a

GOOD time."

We

spent

the

day

at

an

extremely high

level

of

anxiety,

expecting

the

worst for the

performance.

I

walked into

Haymarket Square trying

to

maintain as much of my dignity as

possible,^

|k

feeling

as

if I

was

about

to

be

guillo-

B

Btined.

1

Haymarket

Square

is

one

of

the oldest

|

U.S.

GI

coffeehouses

around

and still

one

of

the better

ones. It

purports

to

have

the most

radical

bookstore

between

DC

and

Havana.

The

space

is

huge?an

old

ware

house

with

the bookstore

at

one

end and

a

yogurt

and

fruit

Quice

bar

at the

other,

with lots

of

tables and

chairs and

a

stage

in the middle.

Some

of

the

people

who

work

there

are

old timers around

the

place,

several

have been

on

brigades,

all

were

very

friendly

and

helpful

with the

kids.

photos

by

david

otto

& karel

weissberg.

stories

by

all

the

onions,

cover

by

our

good

friend

judy

davis.

gestalt

GESTALT

I

am a

castle

My

walIs

are

tal1

Sweating

cold

on

the

inside

On

a

hill

I

am a

hurricane

Hurricane Robin

Ravaging

the coast

of

my

soal

I

feel like

a

snail

Taking

it

slow

Not

easy-in

a

forest

that

Can't

be

mapped

And

I

am

a

child

Abandoned and lost

In

my

storm that

Won't

let

go

Robin

A.

Evans

7&

*7&*foa4d>

u^Lf^dU,

cttAfay&U

how

was

the

tour?

mm

^

When

someone

asks

me

how

the

Onion

^trip

was,

I

immediately respond

"fantastic.1

It

was. A

deep

sense of

closeness

came

from struggling on so many levels of my

being

with

nine other

people

day

and

night

for

a

month.

We

gradually

became

more

attuned

to

each other's

physical

and

psy

chological

rhythms,

realized that

we

had

to

learn

to communicate

them

in order

to

work

together.

There

were

times

when

I

wanted

so

much

to

be

alone,

to choose

what to eat

or

where

to

go

without

a

joint

decision

that

I

felt like

splitting.

There

were

times when I

really

wanted

to

work

hard and other

people

were

tired

or

sick

and

couldn't.

There

were

lonely

hours

when

I

longed

for friends

back home

and

space

to

deal

with radical

changes

that

had

just

taken

place

in

my

life

before

the

trip began.

But the Onion sisters

and the

work

were

important

and

the ef

forts

to

grow

so

rewarding'.

The

process

was

hard

but

good.

Sharing

meant not

only pounding

and

screaming

our

frus

trations in

improvisation

sessions but

also

planning

surprises

like

our

silent

dinner. As

Earth

Onion

peeled

its outer

layers,

we

found

more

of ourselves rather

than

less.

"Hang-ups"

and

suppressed

anger

became

powerful

drama when

we

lis

tened

to

ourselves

at

our

sisters'

urgings

and

let

our

feelings

out

into

our

voices,

eyes,

cheek

muscles,

tongues,

hands,

breasts,

hips,

feet.

Many

times

we

amazed

ourselves,

sometimes

to

the

point

of

tears,

with the

intensity

we

could

communicate with

tired

bodies

and

over

worked

minds.

We

also

learned to

soothe

each

other

with

body

rubs,

ghost

stories,

flowers,

thoughtful sharing

of work and

two

amazing

children.

Now that

we've

come

back

to

the

city,

we

are

physically

and

psychically separated

(though

exactly

half of

us are

presently

living

together)

but the onion strength and two practices

a

week in which

we

try

to

keep peeling

and

our

feeling

for

each other

keep

us

growing

to

new

depths.

I

-At

end

of

the

road

and

home

October,

1971/off

our

backs/Page

5


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