Crossroads Theater At Five Points

Encore Performances of Slut Energy Theory--Tickets on Sale

SLUT ENERGY THEORY™ ENCORE PERFORMANCES No Credits Productions is proud to announce three encore performances of SLUT ENERGY THEORY ™ at Crossroads Theatre on November 20-22 2009 This will be the final showing of Slut Energy Theory™ this year before it goes on tour November 20 & 21 performances start at 7:30pm andwill be open to the public, with November 21 as a fundraiser for "We Wear the Mask - Who Will Speak for the Children?" a film project about incest and sexual abuse by donnie l. betts November 22 will be a matinee performance at 3:00pm and is reserved especially for those impacted by domestic and sexual violence to attend free of charge.  For the matinee, we will be soliciting audience members ONLY from those organizations that advocate for such survivors and those who work on their behalf.   Crossroads Theatre is located at 2590 Washington Street in Denver, CO Tickets are $20 and may be purchased at Crossroads Theatre website:  http://www.denvercrossroads.com/ Please forward this notice freely and widely!   ABOUT "SLUT ENERGY THEORY" SLUT ENERGY THEORY is one woman's story about abuse, laughter, life & pushin' on through to the other side.  Told through music, spoken word and monologue, U'Dean Morgan speaks her mind as an elderly, yet ageless, woman whose harrowing life experiences have left her anything but speechless. Her favorite quote?  "It ain't what you done lost, it's what you got left!" From the opening song, U'Dean doesn't mind telling you exactly what she thinks about sex, heaven, god, lies, truth, you, herself and whatever else you might ask her - if you have the nerve! This one-woman show had its conception in 2002 during a late-night conversation with a girlfriend.  The topic turned to the counterproductive effects that romantic/sexual relationships often bring to bear on creativity and productivity.  It was noted that some women expend seemingly endless energy pursuing sex or sexual relationships rather than on creative and intellectual endeavors.  The term "slut energy" was coined to describe this pre-occupation with sex to the detriment of one's own personal development.  The question then arose: When are little girls typically first made aware of the sexual aspects of their bodies - and by whom? Of the nearly 30 women queried, each gave the same response: it was when a male either said something about or did something to their bodies.  While these answers were by no means scientifically researched, the anecdotal evidence was unexpected.  This led to a creative exploration of the long-term effects these first experiences have on the way girls perceive their bodies and the impact of these perceptions as they transition into womanhood.  What forces or influences move little girls toward a life that centers on sexual activity? How do these forces color their view of the world and themselves?  Is it possible (or even necessary) to free oneself from these forces?  If so, how? Out of these questions comes the first of four installments: the story of U'Dean, matriarch of four generations of "sluts" - so far.  Subsequent plays scheduled for production in 2010 will introduce U'Dean's troubled daughter Sophie; the elegant and high-powered granddaughter, Lorna; and Tulsa, given up for adoption by Lorna and oblivious to her lineage. SLUT ENERGY THEORY is directed by donnie l. betts and produced by donnie l. betts and rene marie www.renemarie.com   www.nocredits.com

 

Westword Review of Rene Marie's "Slut Energy Theory" by Juliet Wittman

Rene Marie is a powerful force in Slut Energy Theory

By Juliet Wittman

Published on October 06, 2009 at 1:05pm

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  René Marie in Slut Energy Theory.

Details:

Presented by No Credits Productions through October 10, Crossroads Theatre, 2590 Washington Street, 303-83..., www.denvercrossroads.com.

Subject(s):

Rene Marie, Slut Energy Theory

I knew that René Marie was a tremendous jazz artist — but I had no idea that she was also an amazing writer and an astonishingly powerful actress. Not until I saw Slut Energy Theory. Marie's one-woman play has been promoted as a work about incest and abuse; performances are bookended with cautious before-the-show warnings about language and post-show panels of experts discussing the problems of domestic violence. But while incest and abuse certainly provide much of the play's subject matter, Slut Energy Theory goes far beyond our usual jargon-laden and sanctimonious discourse on the topic. This is a work of art, a powerful, unsentimental and original work that should blow apart all the concepts you've ever held about victimhood, survivor trauma and feminist energy, and reconfigure them in dazzling new ways.

The protagonist is U'Dean, born in rural Arkansas in 1912, and now an old woman speaking to us from the other side of death. Marie has said that U'Dean arrived in her mind — along with three other women who will become the subjects of future plays — and essentially took possession of her, and this common author's boast ("I just sit back and watch my characters interact") seems entirely true in her case. Marie is U'Dean. She has immersed herself so deeply in the character that not a gesture or inflection feels untrue. She knows U'Dean as a child, a teenager, a grown woman. She's not afraid of pauses, because every one is filled with significance, and when she sings, the song arises from the story as naturally and inevitably as crocuses from loamy spring soil. There are no big numbers, no showstoppers, no look-at-me-I-can-hold-this-note-forever bits, just the woman living, moment by moment, in the on-stage world she's created.

"You gonna like me," Marie assures us slyly at the beginning of the piece, and indeed we do. We like U'Dean when she's throwing the word "fuck" in our faces, laughing raucously about the grotesque details of her father's death, describing her sexual adventures in graphic detail, cursing the God that betrayed her, writhing in tears on the floor, empathizing with or confronting us, and explaining — in one of the funniest sequences I've ever seen on a stage — how she got her husband to leave her pussy alone. And at the end, when she's kicking along the sand, splay-toed, singing about "Walking to the Grand Canyon," we downright love her.

Marie's work is emotionally naked yet never embarrassing, because of the intelligence behind it. Or rather, the several intelligences: the instinctual stage intelligence of the born performer; the kind of tough intelligence that lets Marie engage in direct audience interaction without manipulation or dishonesty; the musical intelligence of a first-rate jazz singer. And the script itself can stand alone as a fine piece of writing, rich and humorous, filled with surprises.

Marie came under sustained attack last year for singing the words of "Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing" to the melody of "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Mayor John Hickenlooper's State of the City address. She was accused of grandstanding and lack of patriotism; even then-candidate Barack Obama weighed in. But the attacks missed the point. Then, as now, she was synthesizing complex experience, working to reconcile the realities she'd faced growing up black in America with the profound love she felt for her country.

Art isn't easy or neat. It confronts the hard issues, has no use for social niceties, pushes constantly at the limits of the acceptable. But at its best, art is transformative. On the night I attended Slut Energy Theory, someone asked about U'Dean's ability to laugh at her own difficult life. Marie responded that there's humor in every tragedy and tragedy in all comedy, and that's the spirit that animates the entire text. Slut Energy Theory balances dangerously between grief and joy throughout, finally erupting into a blinding affirmation not only of its creator's irrepressible artistry, but — and I don't mean this in any mimsy, Hallmark-card sort of way — also of the power of the life force itself, the force that kept illiterate U'Dean laughing, kicking, singing, emotionally vulnerable and entirely sure of who she was in the face of everything a hostile world could throw at her.

Location of Crossroads Theater at Five Points

2590 Washington Street, Denver Colorado 80205

Located at Five Points at Welton and Washington with covered parking in the building.  Enter parking from Washington Street.  Light rail access is perfect, take the D train to the 27th and Welton exit and walk back to the theater one half block.

The theater is next door  to  Blackberries Ice Cream and Coffee Shop and across Washington Street from the Rossonian Hotel. 

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October 2,3,7,8,9,10 Slut Energy Theory 7:30PM

SLUT ENERGY THEORY is one woman's story about abuse, laughter, life, & pushin' on through to the other side.  Told through music, spoken word and monologue, U'dean Morgan speaks her mind as an elderly, yet ageless, woman who has been through some shit in her life.  Her favorite quote? "It ain't what you done lost, it's what you got left!"  From the opening song, U'dean doesn't mind telling you exactly what she thinks about sex, heaven, god, lies, truth, you, herself and whatever else you might ask her - if you have the nerve! 

About SLUT ENERGY THEORY:

 

It took me nearly five years to compose the music, write the script and get it all in a state of readiness for public consumption. This is my 4th foray into the world of theatre, and my first one-woman show. It is directed by donnie l. betts (http://www.nocredits.com/bkgnd.htm) and produced by donnie l. betts and rene marie.

 

Slut Energy Theory had its conception in 2002 during a late-night conversation with a girlfriend. The topic turned to the counterproductive effects that romantic/sexual relationships often bring to bear on creativity and productivity, with some women expending seemingly endless energy pursuing sex or sexual relationships rather than on creative and intellectual endeavors. The term "slut energy" was coined to describe this pre-occupation with sex. The question then arose: when are little girls typically first made aware of the sexual aspects of their bodies - and by whom? 

 

Of the nearly 30 women queried, each gave the same response:  it was when a male either said something about or did something to their bodies. While these answers were by no means scientifically researched, the anecdotal evidence was unexpected. This led to a creative exploration of the long-term effects these first experiences have on the way girls perceive their bodies and the impact of these perceptions as they transition into womanhood. What forces or influences move little girls away from their sexual innocence and into a life that centers on sexual activity?  How do these forces color their view of the world and themselves?  Is it possible to free oneself from these forces?  If so, how?  

Out of these questions comes the first of four installments: the story of U'dean, matriarch of 4 generations of "sluts" - so far.  Subsequent plays scheduled for production in 2010 will introduce U'dean's troubled daughter, Sophie; the elegant and high-powered granddaughter, Lorna; and U'dean's great-granddaughter, Tulsa, given up for adoption by Lorna and oblivious to her lineage.

 

"i want my art to stand out defiantly - like red against green; reflecting an endless variety of shapes, dimensions and perspectives. as an artist, the question i am always faced with is: do i have the courage to perform the art that is within me?  i never know the answer to that question until i am onstage and, in that moment, surrender myself to the audience" - rene marie

www.renemarie.com
www.nocredits.com

October 17 through November 14 Paragon Theater presents The Winterling

A chilling tale by Jez Butterworth

Oct 17 - Nov 14, 2009

Thursdays, Fridays, Saturdays at 7:30pm

No performance on Sat., October 31. Special Matinee on Sun., Nov. 8 at 2pm.

The dead of winter takes on a whole new meaning.

From the playwright who gave us The Night Heron and Mojo, comes another brilliantly twisted tale about outcasts living on the fringes of civilized society. In the darkness of an English farmhouse, three gang members are locked in a power struggle, while someone upstairs holds a box with something in it. In the same vein as The Caretaker, Butterworth's characters reek of danger and despair - and perhaps something deadly.

Together for the first time since The Night Heron, ensemble members Jarrad Holbrook and Warren Sherrill head up a stellar cast supported by Suzanne Favette and co-directed by Taylor Gonda and Holly Ann Peterson.