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'''WOW Cafe''' (Women's One World) is a feminist theater space in New York City. In the mid-1980s, WOW Cafe was central to the [[avant garde]] theatre and [[performance art]] scene in the [[East Village, New York City]].<ref name=at>{{cite news|url=http://www.americantheatre.org/2014/01/16/peggy-shaw-lois-weaver-leave-their-mark-on-new-york-avante-garde-theatre/|title=Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver Leave Their Mark on New York Avante-Garde Theatre|work=[[American Theatre]]|date=16 January 2014|first=Alexis|last=Clements|accessdate=14 June 2015}}</ref><ref name=nyt>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?pagewanted=print&res=9B0DE7D8153FF935A35751C0A961948260&_r=0|title=AVANT-GARDE EXTRAVAGANZAS ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE|work=[[New York Times]]|date=6 February 1987|first=Jennifer|last=Dunning|accessdate=14 June 2015}}</ref> Among the artists who have presented at the space are [[Lisa Kron]], [[Holly Hughes (performance artist)|Holly Hughes]], [[Deb Margolin]], [[Dancenoise]], [[Carmelita Tropicana]], [[Eileen Myles]], [[Split Britches]], and [[The Five Lesbian Brothers]].<ref name=nyt1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/arts/music/pop-rock-cabaret-for-june-5-12.html|title=Pop, Rock & Cabaret for June 5–11|work=[[New York Times]]|date=4 June 2015|accessdate=14 June 2015}}</ref>
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'''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]].<ref name=at>{{cite news|url=http://www.americantheatre.org/2014/01/16/peggy-shaw-lois-weaver-leave-their-mark-on-new-york-avante-garde-theatre/|title=Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver Leave Their Mark on New York Avante-Garde Theatre|work=[[American Theatre (magazine)|American Theatre]]|date=16 January 2014|first=Alexis|last=Clements|access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref><ref name=nyt>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?pagewanted=print&res=9B0DE7D8153FF935A35751C0A961948260&_r=0|title=AVANT-GARDE EXTRAVAGANZAS ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE|work=[[New York Times]]|date=6 February 1987|first=Jennifer|last=Dunning|access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref> Among the artists who have presented at the space are [[Peggy Shaw]], [[Lois Weaver]], [https://dgf.org/fellows/patricia-ione-lloyd/ Patricia Ione LLoyd], [[Lisa Kron]], [[Holly Hughes (performance artist)|Holly Hughes]], [[Deb Margolin]], [[Dancenoise]], [[Carmelita Tropicana]], [[Eileen Myles]], [[Split Britches]], [[Seren Divine]], [[Johnny Science]], and [[The Five Lesbian Brothers]].<ref name=nyt1>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/05/arts/music/pop-rock-cabaret-for-june-5-12.html|title=Pop, Rock & Cabaret for June 5–11|work=[[New York Times]]|date=4 June 2015|access-date=14 June 2015}}</ref>

The WOW Cafe is still running today, and meets almost every Tuesday.<ref>{{Cite web |title=WOW Cafe Theatre - Welcome |url=http://www.wowcafe.org/}}</ref>

== Organizing structure ==
WOW Cafe Theater is run on anarchical principles of consensus building. Currently WOW does not charge membership fees and members participate in [[sweat equity]], in order to get produce a show, they are expected to help with others' shows as well.<ref>{{cite podcast|last=Esposito|first=Cameron|author-link=Cameron Esposito|url=https://www.earwolf.com/episode/madeleine-olnek/|title=Episode 85: Madeleine Olnek|work=Queery with Cameron Esposito|medium=podcast|date=5 May 2019|time=30:02|access-date=7 May 2019}}</ref> Despite the historical focus of WOW productions on lesbian experiences and subcultures, WOW remains an open space for all women and/or trans people, particularly women of color and queer women.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kate.|first=Davy|title=Lady dicks and lesbian brothers : staging the unimaginable at the WOW Café Theatre|date=2010|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=978-0472051229|location=Ann Arbor|oclc=550553840}}</ref> Most decisions are made at the collective meetings held every Tuesday at 6:30 pm in WOW space on East 4th Street. In March 2020, during COVID-19 pandemic the meetings have moved online.


== History ==
== History ==
===1980s ===
The WOW Cafe began when two of the founding members, [[Lois Weaver]] and [[Peggy Shaw]] were traveling Europe with performance troupes [[Spiderwoman Theater]] and Hot Peaches, and after seeing women’s theater festivals during their tour were inspired to establish one in America.<ref name="Solomon">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|page=92|doi=10.2307/1145606|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1145606|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> Shaw and Weaver, also founding members of the Split Britches theater troupe, described their style, making lesbianism and feminism not issues, but givens: "We didn't make it that clear-- switching roles. We didn't even basically mention it," Shaw said of their time teaching at Hampshire.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Merrill|first=Lisa|date=1993|title=The Alcestis Project: Split Britches at Hampshire College|url=|journal=Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory|volume=6|pages=151-168|via=}}</ref> Together with Jordi Mark and Pamela Camhe, veterans of feminist- and street-theater performing, they established the Women’s One World Festival in 1980, setting up in the Allcraft Center iTogether with Jordi Mark and Pamela Camhe, veterans of feminist- and street-theater performing, they established the Women’s One World Festival in 1980, setting up in the Allcraft Center in the East Village and using what they had seen at the women’s theater festivals in Europe for structural inspiration.<ref name="Solomon 93">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|page=93|doi=10.2307/1145606|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1145606|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Memories of the Revolution |last=Hughes|first=Holly |last2=Tropicana|first2=Carmelita |last3=Dolan|first3=Jill |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2015|isbn=978-0-472-06863-0}}</ref> The organizing women wanted the festival to have what Weaver described as a "multimedia environment," and so in addition to performances the WOW Festival incorporated things like the social cafe atmosphere, film showings, and dancing.<ref name="Solomon 93" /> Many of the performers came in troupes from Europe, and, because the WOW festival was self-funded and on a very tight budget, they covered their own costs of living and arranged their own housing, often being taken in by festival supporters; the opportunity to perform in a festival in New York and the chance for exposure was motivation enough to participate in the festival.<ref name="Solomon 93" /> The success of the festival prompted management from the Allcraft Center to allow the women to stay in the performance space and continue to produce women’s performance art, after which the women began hosting performance nights on a weekly basis.<ref name="Solomon 93" />
The WOW Cafe Theater began when two of the founding members, [[Lois Weaver]] and [[Peggy Shaw]] were traveling Europe with performance troupes [[Spiderwoman Theater]] and [[Hot Peaches]], and after seeing women's theater festivals during their tour were inspired to establish one in America.<ref name="Solomon 98">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|pages=92–101|doi=10.2307/1145606|jstor=1145606}}</ref> Shaw and Weaver, also founding members of the Split Britches theater troupe, described their style, making lesbianism and feminism not issues, but givens: "We didn't make it that clear-- switching roles. We didn't even basically mention it," Shaw said of their time teaching at Hampshire.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Merrill|first=Lisa|date=1993|title=The Alcestis Project: Split Britches at Hampshire College|journal=Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory|volume=6|pages=151–168|doi=10.1080/07407709308571172}}</ref> Together with Jordi Mark and Pamela Camhe, veterans of feminist- and street-theater performing, they established the Women's One World Festival in 1980, setting up in the Allcraft Center in the East Village and using what they had seen at the women's theater festivals in Europe for structural inspiration.<ref name="Solomon 98" /><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Memories of the Revolution |last1=Hughes|first1=Holly |last2=Tropicana|first2=Carmelita |last3=Dolan|first3=Jill |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=2015|isbn=978-0-472-06863-0}}</ref> The organizing women wanted the festival to have what Weaver described as a "multimedia environment," and so in addition to performances, the WOW Festival incorporated things like the social cafe atmosphere, film showings, and dancing.<ref name="Solomon 98" /> Many of the performers came in troupes from Europe, and, because the WOW festival was self-funded and on a very tight budget, they covered their own costs of living and arranged their own housing, often being taken in by festival supporters; the opportunity to perform in a festival in New York and the chance for exposure was motivation enough to participate in the festival.<ref name="Solomon 98" /> The success of the festival prompted management from the Allcraft Center to allow the women to stay in the performance space and continue to produce women's performance art, after which the women began hosting performance nights on a weekly basis.<ref name="Solomon 98" />
<br />
<br />
Eventually, the women of WOW had to leave the Allcraft Center due to pressure from the board that funded the center, believed to be at least partially motivated by homophobic sentiments towards the group's largely lesbian makeup, and had to find a new space in which to perform, ending up at the Ukrainian National Home and adapting a ballroom to their uses.<ref name="Solomon 94">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|page=94|doi=10.2307/1145606|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1145606|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> After hosting a second festival at the Ukrainian National Home and not wanting to dissolve their creative collective, the members of the WOW Festival began plans to establish a permanent performance space/café for the group. Using money they raised through parties, special performances, and other benefits, WOW settled on a space at 330 E 11th Street.<ref name="Solomon 95">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|page=95|doi=10.2307/1145606|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1145606|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref>
At first, WOW primarily used the venue as an actual cafe rather than a performance space, selling sandwiches and coffee and serving more of a social purpose than an artistic one while they were getting settled.<ref name=":0" /> Before long, however, the WOW women built a small stage in the cafe and began to once again hold performances for women artists.<ref name="Solomon 96">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|page=96|doi=10.2307/1145606|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1145606|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref><br />
<br />Early works in the space included Holly Hughes's ''Well of Horniness''; Split Britches's ''Split Britches'' and ''Beauty and the Beast;'' and ''Tennessee Waltz'', a show depicting the women of Tennessee Williams plays, devised by early collaborators in WOW.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to theatre, the space was home to brunches, art shows, Variety Night, Cabaret BOW WOW, and Talking Slide Shows (where artists would present slides of their work and discuss it).<br />
<br />In 1983 Susan Young became the booking manager for the WOW Cafe and it became more organized as a performance space instead of being managed entirely as a collective. Young’s influence transformed the Cafe into a more formal space as well, allowing outside groups to organize and manage some of the events that took place there, rather than leaving all production responsibilities up to the Café for every performance.<ref name="Solomon 98">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|page=98|doi=10.2307/1145606|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1145606|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref>
<br />
<br />In 1984, WOW moved to its current location on E. 4th St.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wowcafe.org/story/|title=A story past and present of WOW Cafe Theatre|website=www.wowcafe.org|accessdate=2016-03-05}}</ref>


Eventually, the women of WOW had to leave the Allcraft Center due to pressure from the board that funded the center, believed to be at least partially motivated by homophobic sentiments towards the group's largely lesbian makeup, and had to find a new space in which to perform, ending up at the Ukrainian National Home and adapting a ballroom to their uses.<ref name="Solomon 98"/> After hosting a second festival at the Ukrainian National Home and not wanting to dissolve their creative collective, the members of the WOW Festival began plans to establish a permanent performance space/café for the group. Using money they raised through parties, special performances, and other benefits, WOW settled on a space at 330 E 11th Street.<ref name="Solomon 98"/>
== Funding and Publicity ==
Finding funding for the WOW Cafe was always difficult. While most bills could be covered by the box office sales, at times the rent and utilities were paid via benefits, parties, paid dances, or begging passerby.The collective's philosophy was "It's easier to get a job than a grant," and many of the founding members contributed their outside salaries to the project. <ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/933515943|title=Memories of the revolution : the first ten years of the WOW Cafe Theater|date=2015|publisher=[publisher not identified]|others=Dolan, Jill, 1957-, Tropicana, Carmelita,, Hughes, Holly, 1955 March 10-|isbn=9780472068630|location=[Place of publication not identified]|oclc=933515943}}</ref> The founders of WOW refused to apply for large grants, preferring grassroots fundraising, donating their own money, and getting small grants here and there. They rejected the notion of changing their work to receive or maintain grants, insisting WOW was a place for complete freedom of expression for the outsiders of society.<ref name=":1" /> WOW collective members resented the money and publicity received by gay men's theaters, noting that The New York Times had never attended a show and The Village Voice rarely ever came, while both regularly reviewed and praised gay men's theaters.<ref name=":1" /> Despite the primary focus of WOW productions on lesbian experiences and subcultures, WOW remains an open space for all women and trans identified people, particularly women of color and queer women.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/550553840|title=Lady dicks and lesbian brothers : staging the unimaginable at the WOW Café Theatre|last=Kate.|first=Davy,|date=2010|publisher=University of Michigan Press|isbn=0472051229|location=Ann Arbor|oclc=550553840}}</ref> Since 2005, WOW has made it a priority to explicitly welcome people of intersecting identities of all ages, races, religions, ethnicities, sexualities, and gender identities.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wowcafe.org/thestory/|title=A story past and present of WOW Cafe Theatre|website=www.wowcafe.org|access-date=2017-11-07}}</ref>


At first, WOW primarily used the venue as an actual cafe rather than a performance space, selling sandwiches and coffee and serving more of a social purpose than an artistic one while they were getting settled.<ref name=":0" /> Before long, however, the WOW women built a small stage in the cafe and began to once again hold performances for women artists.<ref name="Solomon 98"/>
== Performance Atmosphere and Lesbian Focus ==
To maintain the feeling of collective effort and openness, the WOW organizers declined to hold auditions for their performers, believing that requiring an audition to qualify for their performance space would lead to censorship, which they felt they had experienced after being locked out of the Allcraft Center. <ref name="Solomon 98">{{cite journal|last1=Solomon|first1=Alisa|title=The WOW Cafe|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|date=Spring 1985|volume=29|issue=1|page=98|doi=10.2307/1145606|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/1145606|accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref> It was important for the WOW Cafe to maintain its integrity as an uncensored, collective space since the space itself, the performers, performances, and even audience members were all very geared towards lesbian lives and narratives.<ref name="Dolan">{{cite journal|last1=Dolan|first1=Jill|title=The Dynamics of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Pornography and Performance|journal=Theatre Journal|date=May 1987|volume=39|issue=2|page=165|doi=10.2307/3207686}}</ref> Because of this emphasis on the life experiences of lesbians, a lot of the subject matter of the performances had to do with gender roles and norms, often recreating them to highlight and challenge them as social constructs.<ref name="Dolan">{{cite journal|last1=Dolan|first1=Jill|title=The Dynamics of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Pornography and Performance|journal=Theatre Journal|date=May 1987|volume=39|issue=2|page=165|doi=10.2307/3207686}}</ref> Some of the criticism that the WOW Cafe received actually targeted their usage of the butch/femme binary in their performances, considering it to be problematic and regressive, but the Cafe maintained its stance that the portrayal and incorporation of these stereotypes served as social commentary.<ref name="Dolan 170">{{cite journal|last1=Dolan|first1=Jill|title=The Dynamics of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Pornography and Performance|journal=Theatre Journal|date=May 1987|volume=39|issue=2|page=170|doi=10.2307/3207686}}</ref> Very often, the performers used comedy to facilitate the realization of these stereotypes and caricatures, exaggerating the gendered aspects of the characters they portrayed to highlight them.<ref name="Davy">{{cite journal|last1=Davy|first1=Kate|title=Constructing the Spectator: Reception, Context, and Address in Lesbian Performance|journal=Performing Arts Journal|date=1986|volume=10|issue=2|pages=43 |doi=10.2307/3245613 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3245613 |accessdate=5 December 2016}}</ref>


Early works in the space included Holly Hughes's ''Well of Horniness''; Split Britches's ''Split Britches'' and ''Beauty and the Beast;'' and ''Tennessee Waltz'', a show depicting the women of Tennessee Williams plays, devised by early collaborators in WOW.<ref name=":0" /> In addition to theatre, the space was home to brunches, art shows, Variety Night, Cabaret BOW WOW, and Talking Slide Shows (where artists would present slides of their work and discuss it).
== Notable Productions ==

* ''Agnes de Castro'' (written by [[Catharine Trotter Cockburn|Catherine Trotter]] (1695), directed by Karena Rahall (1990))<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/27266905|title=Upstaging Big Daddy : directing theater as if gender and race matter|date=1993|publisher=University of Michigan Press|others=Donkin, Ellen, 1949-, Clement, Susan.|isbn=0472065033|location=Ann Arbor|oclc=27266905}}</ref>
In 1983 Susan Young became the booking manager for the WOW Cafe and it became more organized as a performance space instead of being managed entirely as a collective. Young's influence transformed the Cafe into a more formal space as well, allowing outside groups to organize and manage some of the events that took place there, rather than leaving all production responsibilities up to the Café for every performance.<ref name="Solomon 98"/>
* ''Well of Horniness'' (written by [[Holly Hughes (performance artist)|Holly Hughes]] (1985))<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hughes|first=Holly|date=1985|title="The Well of Horniness" (Part One)|url=http://www.jstor.org/stable/1145607|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|volume=29|issue=1|pages=102–107|doi=10.2307/1145607}}</ref>

* ''Split Britches'' (written and directed by [[Peggy Shaw]], [[Lois Weaver]], and [[Deb Margolin|Deborah Margolin]] (1981))<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Patraka|first=Vivian M.|date=1989-01-01|title=Split britches in split britches: Performing history, vaudeville, and the everyday|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/07407708908571129|journal=Women & Performance: a journal of feminist theory|volume=4|issue=2|pages=58–67|doi=10.1080/07407708908571129|issn=0740-770X}}</ref>
In 1984, WOW moved to its current location on E. 4th St.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.wowcafe.org/story/|title=A story past and present of WOW Cafe Theatre|website=www.wowcafe.org|access-date=2016-03-05}}</ref>
* ''Beauty and the Beast'' (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1982))<ref name=":2" />

* ''Upwardly Mobile Home'' (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1984))<ref name=":2" />
==== Funding ====
* ''Voyage to Lesbos'' (written by Maureen Angelos, [[Lisa Kron]], Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, and Peg Healey (1990), directed by Kate Stafford (1990))<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/1916/voyage-to-lesbos|title=Voyage to Lesbos|website=www.samuelfrench.com|access-date=2017-11-07}}</ref>
Finding funding for the WOW Cafe was always difficult. While most bills could be covered by the box office sales, at times the rent and utilities were paid via benefits, parties, paid dances, or begging passersby. The collective's philosophy was "It's easier to get a job than a grant," and many of the founding members contributed their outside salaries to the project.<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|title=Memories of the revolution : the first ten years of the WOW Cafe Theater|date=2015|others=Dolan, Jill, 1957-, Tropicana, Carmelita,, Hughes, Holly, 1955 March 10-|isbn=9780472068630|oclc=933515943}}</ref> The founders of WOW refused to apply for large grants, preferring grassroots fundraising, donating their own money, and getting small grants here and there. They rejected the notion of changing their work to receive or maintain grants, insisting WOW was a place for complete freedom of expression for the outsiders of society.<ref name=":1" /> WOW collective members were aware of the money and publicity received by gay men's theaters, noting that ''The New York Times'' had never attended a show and ''The Village Voice'' rarely ever came, while both regularly reviewed and praised gay men's theaters.<ref name=":1" />
* ''Little Women'' (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1988))<ref name=":2" />

==== Performance atmosphere and lesbian focus ====
To maintain the feeling of collective effort and openness, the WOW organizers declined to hold auditions for their performers, believing that requiring an audition to qualify for their performance space would lead to censorship, which they felt they had experienced after being locked out of the Allcraft Center.<ref name="Solomon 98" /> It was important for the WOW Cafe to maintain its integrity as an uncensored, collective space since the space itself, the performers, performances, and even audience members were all very geared towards lesbian lives and narratives.<ref name="Dolan 170">{{cite journal|last1=Dolan|first1=Jill|date=May 1987|title=The Dynamics of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Pornography and Performance|journal=Theatre Journal|volume=39|issue=2|pages=156–174|doi=10.2307/3207686|jstor=3207686}}</ref> Because of this emphasis on the life experiences of lesbians, a lot of the subject matter of the performances had to do with gender roles and norms, often recreating them to highlight and challenge them as social constructs.<ref name="Dolan 170" /> Some of the criticism that the WOW Cafe received actually targeted their usage of the butch/femme binary in their performances, considering it to be problematic and regressive, but the Cafe maintained its stance that the portrayal and incorporation of these stereotypes served as social commentary.<ref name="Dolan 170" /> Very often, the performers used comedy to facilitate the realization of these stereotypes and caricatures, exaggerating the gendered aspects of the characters they portrayed to highlight them.<ref name="Davy">{{cite journal|last1=Davy|first1=Kate|date=1986|title=Constructing the Spectator: Reception, Context, and Address in Lesbian Performance|journal=Performing Arts Journal|volume=10|issue=2|pages=43–52|doi=10.2307/3245613|jstor=3245613|s2cid=193998274}}</ref>

=== 2000s ===
During the early 2000s as a result of an increased gentrification and commercialization of East Village many spaces were being threatened. In 2005 WOW Cafe Theater changed its mission to explicitly include all women and/or trans people. In early 2000s through series of meetings with NY City officials WOW has been the space it is in. Currently WOW is a member of ARC which comprises several organizations in 59-61 East 4th building. WOW is a founding member of [[Fourth Arts Block|FAB]], an organization created in 2001 by a coalition of cultural and community nonprofits on East 4th Street to save their homes.<ref>{{Cite web|title=About – FABnyc|url=http://www.fabnyc.org/about/|access-date=2020-10-07|language=en-US}}</ref> Since 2005, WOW has made it a priority to explicitly welcome people of intersecting identities of all ages, races, religions, ethnicities, sexualities, and gender identities.<ref>{{Cite web|title=A story past and present of WOW Cafe Theatre|url=http://www.wowcafe.org/thestory/|access-date=2017-11-07|website=www.wowcafe.org}}</ref>

== Notable productions ==
*''Well of Horniness'' (written by [[Holly Hughes (performance artist)|Holly Hughes]] (1985))<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Hughes|first=Holly|date=1985|title="The Well of Horniness" (Part One)|jstor=1145607|journal=The Drama Review: TDR|volume=29|issue=1|pages=102–107|doi=10.2307/1145607}}</ref>
*''Split Britches'' (written and directed by [[Peggy Shaw]], [[Lois Weaver]], and [[Deb Margolin|Deborah Margolin]] (1981))<ref name=":2">{{Cite journal|last=Patraka|first=Vivian M.|date=1989-01-01|title=Split britches in split britches: Performing history, vaudeville, and the everyday|journal=Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory|volume=4|issue=2|pages=58–67|doi=10.1080/07407708908571129|issn=0740-770X}}</ref>
*''Beauty and the Beast'' (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1982))<ref name=":2" />
*''Upwardly Mobile Home'' (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1984))<ref name=":2" />
*''Voyage to Lesbos'' (written by the [[Five Lesbian Brothers]] Maureen Angelos, [[Lisa Kron]], Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, and Peg Healey (1990), directed by Kate Stafford (1990))<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/1916/voyage-to-lesbos|title=Voyage to Lesbos|website=www.samuelfrench.com|access-date=2017-11-07}}</ref>
*''Brave Smiles'' (written by the [[Five Lesbian Brothers]] Maureen Angelos, [[Lisa Kron]], Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, and Peg Healey (1992), directed by Kate Stafford (1992)<ref>{{cite web|title=Brave Smiles...Another Lesbian Tragedy|url=http://www.samuelfrench.com/p/1913/brave-smilesanother-lesbian-tragedy|access-date=19 January 2018|date=1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Not Just Passing Through|url=https://archive.org/details/NotJustPassingThrough|date=1994}}</ref>
*''Little Women'' (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1988))<ref name=":2" />


==References==
==References==
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* {{official|http://www.wowcafe.org/}}
* {{official|http://www.wowcafe.org/}}


{{East Village, Manhattan}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:WOW Cafe}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:WOW Cafe}}
[[Category:Lower East Side]]
[[Category:Cultural history of New York City]]
[[Category:Cultural history of New York City]]
[[Category:Feminism in New York City]]
[[Category:Feminist theatre]]
[[Category:Lesbian culture in New York (state)]]
[[Category:Lesbian feminist mass media]]
[[Category:East Village, Manhattan]]
[[Category:Theatres in Manhattan]]
[[Category:Theatres in Manhattan]]

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Latest revision as of 20:16, 22 September 2023

WOW Café
Map
Address59-61 E 4th St
New York, NY
United States
Coordinates40°43′32″N 73°59′30″W / 40.725656°N 73.991794°W / 40.725656; -73.991794
Website
wowcafe.org

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.[1][2] Among the artists who have presented at the space are Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, Patricia Ione LLoyd, Lisa Kron, Holly Hughes, Deb Margolin, Dancenoise, Carmelita Tropicana, Eileen Myles, Split Britches, Seren Divine, Johnny Science, and The Five Lesbian Brothers.[3]

The WOW Cafe is still running today, and meets almost every Tuesday.[4]

Organizing structure

[edit]

WOW Cafe Theater is run on anarchical principles of consensus building. Currently WOW does not charge membership fees and members participate in sweat equity, in order to get produce a show, they are expected to help with others' shows as well.[5] Despite the historical focus of WOW productions on lesbian experiences and subcultures, WOW remains an open space for all women and/or trans people, particularly women of color and queer women.[6] Most decisions are made at the collective meetings held every Tuesday at 6:30 pm in WOW space on East 4th Street. In March 2020, during COVID-19 pandemic the meetings have moved online.

History

[edit]

1980s

[edit]

The WOW Cafe Theater began when two of the founding members, Lois Weaver and Peggy Shaw were traveling Europe with performance troupes Spiderwoman Theater and Hot Peaches, and after seeing women's theater festivals during their tour were inspired to establish one in America.[7] Shaw and Weaver, also founding members of the Split Britches theater troupe, described their style, making lesbianism and feminism not issues, but givens: "We didn't make it that clear-- switching roles. We didn't even basically mention it," Shaw said of their time teaching at Hampshire.[8] Together with Jordi Mark and Pamela Camhe, veterans of feminist- and street-theater performing, they established the Women's One World Festival in 1980, setting up in the Allcraft Center in the East Village and using what they had seen at the women's theater festivals in Europe for structural inspiration.[7][9] The organizing women wanted the festival to have what Weaver described as a "multimedia environment," and so in addition to performances, the WOW Festival incorporated things like the social cafe atmosphere, film showings, and dancing.[7] Many of the performers came in troupes from Europe, and, because the WOW festival was self-funded and on a very tight budget, they covered their own costs of living and arranged their own housing, often being taken in by festival supporters; the opportunity to perform in a festival in New York and the chance for exposure was motivation enough to participate in the festival.[7] The success of the festival prompted management from the Allcraft Center to allow the women to stay in the performance space and continue to produce women's performance art, after which the women began hosting performance nights on a weekly basis.[7]

Eventually, the women of WOW had to leave the Allcraft Center due to pressure from the board that funded the center, believed to be at least partially motivated by homophobic sentiments towards the group's largely lesbian makeup, and had to find a new space in which to perform, ending up at the Ukrainian National Home and adapting a ballroom to their uses.[7] After hosting a second festival at the Ukrainian National Home and not wanting to dissolve their creative collective, the members of the WOW Festival began plans to establish a permanent performance space/café for the group. Using money they raised through parties, special performances, and other benefits, WOW settled on a space at 330 E 11th Street.[7]

At first, WOW primarily used the venue as an actual cafe rather than a performance space, selling sandwiches and coffee and serving more of a social purpose than an artistic one while they were getting settled.[9] Before long, however, the WOW women built a small stage in the cafe and began to once again hold performances for women artists.[7]

Early works in the space included Holly Hughes's Well of Horniness; Split Britches's Split Britches and Beauty and the Beast; and Tennessee Waltz, a show depicting the women of Tennessee Williams plays, devised by early collaborators in WOW.[9] In addition to theatre, the space was home to brunches, art shows, Variety Night, Cabaret BOW WOW, and Talking Slide Shows (where artists would present slides of their work and discuss it).

In 1983 Susan Young became the booking manager for the WOW Cafe and it became more organized as a performance space instead of being managed entirely as a collective. Young's influence transformed the Cafe into a more formal space as well, allowing outside groups to organize and manage some of the events that took place there, rather than leaving all production responsibilities up to the Café for every performance.[7]

In 1984, WOW moved to its current location on E. 4th St.[10]

Funding

[edit]

Finding funding for the WOW Cafe was always difficult. While most bills could be covered by the box office sales, at times the rent and utilities were paid via benefits, parties, paid dances, or begging passersby. The collective's philosophy was "It's easier to get a job than a grant," and many of the founding members contributed their outside salaries to the project.[11] The founders of WOW refused to apply for large grants, preferring grassroots fundraising, donating their own money, and getting small grants here and there. They rejected the notion of changing their work to receive or maintain grants, insisting WOW was a place for complete freedom of expression for the outsiders of society.[11] WOW collective members were aware of the money and publicity received by gay men's theaters, noting that The New York Times had never attended a show and The Village Voice rarely ever came, while both regularly reviewed and praised gay men's theaters.[11]

Performance atmosphere and lesbian focus

[edit]

To maintain the feeling of collective effort and openness, the WOW organizers declined to hold auditions for their performers, believing that requiring an audition to qualify for their performance space would lead to censorship, which they felt they had experienced after being locked out of the Allcraft Center.[7] It was important for the WOW Cafe to maintain its integrity as an uncensored, collective space since the space itself, the performers, performances, and even audience members were all very geared towards lesbian lives and narratives.[12] Because of this emphasis on the life experiences of lesbians, a lot of the subject matter of the performances had to do with gender roles and norms, often recreating them to highlight and challenge them as social constructs.[12] Some of the criticism that the WOW Cafe received actually targeted their usage of the butch/femme binary in their performances, considering it to be problematic and regressive, but the Cafe maintained its stance that the portrayal and incorporation of these stereotypes served as social commentary.[12] Very often, the performers used comedy to facilitate the realization of these stereotypes and caricatures, exaggerating the gendered aspects of the characters they portrayed to highlight them.[13]

2000s

[edit]

During the early 2000s as a result of an increased gentrification and commercialization of East Village many spaces were being threatened. In 2005 WOW Cafe Theater changed its mission to explicitly include all women and/or trans people. In early 2000s through series of meetings with NY City officials WOW has been the space it is in. Currently WOW is a member of ARC which comprises several organizations in 59-61 East 4th building. WOW is a founding member of FAB, an organization created in 2001 by a coalition of cultural and community nonprofits on East 4th Street to save their homes.[14] Since 2005, WOW has made it a priority to explicitly welcome people of intersecting identities of all ages, races, religions, ethnicities, sexualities, and gender identities.[15]

Notable productions

[edit]
  • Well of Horniness (written by Holly Hughes (1985))[16]
  • Split Britches (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1981))[17]
  • Beauty and the Beast (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1982))[17]
  • Upwardly Mobile Home (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1984))[17]
  • Voyage to Lesbos (written by the Five Lesbian Brothers Maureen Angelos, Lisa Kron, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, and Peg Healey (1990), directed by Kate Stafford (1990))[18]
  • Brave Smiles (written by the Five Lesbian Brothers Maureen Angelos, Lisa Kron, Babs Davy, Dominique Dibbell, and Peg Healey (1992), directed by Kate Stafford (1992)[19][20]
  • Little Women (written and directed by Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver, and Deborah Margolin (1988))[17]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Clements, Alexis (16 January 2014). "Peggy Shaw, Lois Weaver Leave Their Mark on New York Avante-Garde Theatre". American Theatre. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  2. ^ Dunning, Jennifer (6 February 1987). "AVANT-GARDE EXTRAVAGANZAS ON THE LOWER EAST SIDE". New York Times. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  3. ^ "Pop, Rock & Cabaret for June 5–11". New York Times. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 14 June 2015.
  4. ^ "WOW Cafe Theatre - Welcome".
  5. ^ Esposito, Cameron (5 May 2019). "Episode 85: Madeleine Olnek". Queery with Cameron Esposito (podcast). Event occurs at 30:02. Retrieved 7 May 2019.
  6. ^ Kate., Davy (2010). Lady dicks and lesbian brothers : staging the unimaginable at the WOW Café Theatre. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0472051229. OCLC 550553840.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Solomon, Alisa (Spring 1985). "The WOW Cafe". The Drama Review: TDR. 29 (1): 92–101. doi:10.2307/1145606. JSTOR 1145606.
  8. ^ Merrill, Lisa (1993). "The Alcestis Project: Split Britches at Hampshire College". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 6: 151–168. doi:10.1080/07407709308571172.
  9. ^ a b c Hughes, Holly; Tropicana, Carmelita; Dolan, Jill (2015). Memories of the Revolution. University of Michigan Press. ISBN 978-0-472-06863-0.
  10. ^ "A story past and present of WOW Cafe Theatre". www.wowcafe.org. Retrieved 2016-03-05.
  11. ^ a b c Memories of the revolution : the first ten years of the WOW Cafe Theater. Dolan, Jill, 1957-, Tropicana, Carmelita,, Hughes, Holly, 1955 March 10-. 2015. ISBN 9780472068630. OCLC 933515943.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  12. ^ a b c Dolan, Jill (May 1987). "The Dynamics of Desire: Sexuality and Gender in Pornography and Performance". Theatre Journal. 39 (2): 156–174. doi:10.2307/3207686. JSTOR 3207686.
  13. ^ Davy, Kate (1986). "Constructing the Spectator: Reception, Context, and Address in Lesbian Performance". Performing Arts Journal. 10 (2): 43–52. doi:10.2307/3245613. JSTOR 3245613. S2CID 193998274.
  14. ^ "About – FABnyc". Retrieved 2020-10-07.
  15. ^ "A story past and present of WOW Cafe Theatre". www.wowcafe.org. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  16. ^ Hughes, Holly (1985). ""The Well of Horniness" (Part One)". The Drama Review: TDR. 29 (1): 102–107. doi:10.2307/1145607. JSTOR 1145607.
  17. ^ a b c d Patraka, Vivian M. (1989-01-01). "Split britches in split britches: Performing history, vaudeville, and the everyday". Women & Performance: A Journal of Feminist Theory. 4 (2): 58–67. doi:10.1080/07407708908571129. ISSN 0740-770X.
  18. ^ "Voyage to Lesbos". www.samuelfrench.com. Retrieved 2017-11-07.
  19. ^ "Brave Smiles...Another Lesbian Tragedy". 1992. Retrieved 19 January 2018.
  20. ^ "Not Just Passing Through". 1994.
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