The Ape Woman at The Berkshire Fringe: July 31st through August 5th.

Opening night is pick-your-own-price! August 3rd is artist talk-back night!

The Berkshire Fringe 2013 features…

50 emerging artists & ensembles appearing in 
49 shows and special events over
21 days featuring
9 mind blowing original productions and
3 world premieres.

See you there!

The Ape Woman came to Club Passim in Cambridge last December. What a lovely welcome, a packed house strewn with red roses. James Reed wrote a lovely preview for us in The Boston Globe.

In 1964, Marco Ferreri made a film based on Julia Pastrana’s life. You can watch it in its entirety here!

(It’s in Italian, with Portuguese subtitles!)

And now, the fabulously bi-coastal 2013 Ape Woman Band!

May van Oskan: lead vocals, ukulele
Michele Jones: electric guitar
Marciana Jones: autoharp, vocals
Nina Violet: viola, violin, guitar, vocals
Adam Lipsky: piano
Ashley Clayton: bass
Leo Suarez: drums

The Ape Woman has been selected to appear in this summer’s Berkshire Fringe Festival in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. Along with eight other astounding performers and companies from across the country, The Ape Woman will run six shows, opening July 31st and closing August 5th.

We are honored to be part of this prestigious and innovative festival, which has showcased new and experimental work for nearly a decade. Check out the lineup, and we’ll see you in the beautiful Berkshires!

Finally!
Over 150 years after her death, Julia Pastrana has been repatriated to her native Sinaloa, Mexico. She was interred there on Fat Tuesday, and the cast of The Ape Woman is celebrating. There were tons of articles in the mainstream press. Here are links to a few of them:
The New York Times
BBC News
The Huffington Post

Laura Anderson Barbata, a visual artist from Mexico, was instrumental in returning Julia’s remains to Mexico for burial. It’s wonderful to know that it was art that brought about this amazing conclusion. You can check out some of Ms. Barbata’s work at her website.

I have been in touch with Ms. Barbata, and she very graciously returned my email. According to her letter, the funeral “was attended by hundreds of people despite the distance. People from neighboring communities came, women´s groups calling out: ‘No more Julia Pastranas’ in protest of the traffic of women, abuse and violence, and many others. Thousands of flowers were sent from all around the world and were placed over her coffin following the local tradition. There were so many flowers that the burial site dug for her coffin almost was filled, (despite being double in depth to protect Julia´s tomb from being robbed).”

The mayor of Sinaloa spoke at the funeral, stating: “Julia Pastrana has come home. She has been reborn among us. Let us never see another woman be turned into an object of commerce.”

I can’t tell you all how overjoyed I am at this news, and I wish I could have been there to see her laid to rest.

And as far as The Ape Woman? I am more excited than ever to produce this show again. I think, though, that a new song may be in order…

On Friday, Club Passim in Cambridge was packed with old friends, Vineyard cheerleaders, and a lot of completely unfamiliar faces.

Saturday and Sunday we performed back on home turf at The Pit Stop Workshop Co., to grateful and enthusiastic audiences. Stay tuned on our Gallery page for more production photos (in new costumes!) from Dan Waters, Katie Ruppel, and others.

Special thanks to James Reed for his wonderful preview article in The Boston Globe, which you can read from our Press page. Huge thanks also to Ellie Wetherbee and Alisa Javits for the extraordinary decorating job all three nights, strewing roses, ferns, and baby’s breath artfully around our stages. Crushing rose petals under my flamenco heels as I stepped onto the stage definitely brought the experience to the next level.

Next stop: San Francisco! Details forthcoming for our West Coast premiere this June!

We’re also gearing up for our West Coast premiere in San Francisco this spring! Stay tuned…

Thank you to Don Muckerheide and the folks at The Pit Stop Workshop Co. for helping to make this show a huge success. Thank you to Diana Reilly for the beautiful poster design, and Anthony Esposito for the live recordings.