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From the press release:
Texpatriate Productions presents the overdue revival of Veronica Russell's tour de force, "A Different Woman: A True Story of a Texas Girlhood." Although acclaimed in the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival Miss Russell's solo showcase, which she wrote and performs and which was directed for her by Perry Martin, has yet to be seen in its entirety in the hometown where she created it.
"It is perfectly clear to me that life is not worth living, but it also equally clear that life is worth talking about." Gertrude Beasley
Banned in three countries...Destroyed by British ...Read More
From the press release:
Texpatriate Productions presents the overdue revival of Veronica Russell's tour de force, "A Different Woman: A True Story of a Texas Girlhood." Although acclaimed in the 2005 New York International Fringe Festival Miss Russell's solo showcase, which she wrote and performs and which was directed for her by Perry Martin, has yet to be seen in its entirety in the hometown where she created it.
"It is perfectly clear to me that life is not worth living, but it also equally clear that life is worth talking about." Gertrude Beasley
Banned in three countries...Destroyed by British and American Customs...
"My First Thirty Years," schoolteacher Gertrude Beasley's 1925 autobiography, is the basis for Miss Russell's A Different Woman. Published by Robert McAlmon in Paris, "My First Thirty Years" was immediately banned here and in Europe, with over half the copies destroyed in Customs offices. Publisher McAlmon himself called her as a "megalomaniac," a description also bestowed on his other Gertrude, Stein. H.L. Mencken thought Beasley's writing
"profoundly serious and even indignant." Immediately upon publication of her book, Gertrude Beasley "blinks off the radar map of history, " as Larry McMurtry notes in his afterword to the Book Club of Texas edition.
An outspoken, unvarnished, unapologetically cynical--and thus, humorous--tale of rural Texas, told by a woman who pulled herself up from the childhood of poverty and abuse she found herself in, "My First Thirty Years"...and its stage adaptation...include Beasley's brash views on childbirth, education, politics, even incest and bestiality. Considerably more frank than even many contemporary feminist authors, the stuff of A Different Woman is shocking, subversively funny, at times heartbreaking. Here is a rare voice.
The critics on the 2005 NYCFringe production:
"Don't be fooled by her stuffy appearance: She is anything but reserved....[In] a lively 90 minutes...Russell's subtle retelling keeps the story compelling and her audience sympathetic." Village Voice
"[Russell} retells...her story with an almost matter-of-fact casualness...but at times lets the facade crack.... [Beasley's] story deserves the audience it never got, and one hopes that through Russell's work it will finally be heard." NYTheatre.com
"Simultaneously horrifying and uplifting....[A] fierce spirit is what drives the play, and makes it such a strong theatrical experience. As smartly and humorously performed by Ms. Russell, Gertrude's story is more uplifting than offensive. Mr. Martin wisely trusts Ms. Russell's rich voice and commanding stage presence." Broadway World
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