BEASTLY: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL FEMINIST FOLK TALE to be Presented at BCA

Beastly: An Autobiographical Feminist Folk Tale will return to the BCA Plaza Theatre for three benefit performances on Friday, February 28 (7:30 PM), Saturday, March 1 (7:30 PM), and Sunday, March 2, 2025 ( 2 PM).

Created and performed by Melissa Hale Woodman, Beastly blends standup comedy, poetic reverie, and a strategic call to action. In Woodman's own words, "Imagine if The Vagina Monologues and Roald Dahl's Revolting Rhymes had a baby with Bernie Sanders -that's Beastly."

Beastly begins in the not-too-distant future, as tech bros and the oil tycoons tally their loot from hidden bunkers while the world burns outside. Our heroine travels back in time, mining experiences from her rebellious teenage years, spit-up-spattered motherhood, and an unexpected pivot to social justice organizing as she races to turn back the clock and set us on a better path-before it's too late.

Anchored by these whimsical poems, Woodman takes audiences on an increasingly dark journey-imploring them/us? To commit to the vision of a future that they/we all deserve-invoking humor to shatter paralysis and guide audiences beyond helplessness to action. "We need humor right now to counter the despair and the overwhelm engendered/driven by the power-hungry corporate and political elites," says Woodman. "The stakes are too high to stand idly by. That's why Beastly exists- to light a fire under us with joy, laughter, and raunch.."

Woodman performed the show in October, as the 2024 Presidential campaign ended, to a sold-out house and a standing ovation. The show raised $6,000 for three NGO partners: Corporate Accountability, Reproductive Equity Now, and Movement Voter Project. However, updated to reflect the current political situation, its fundamental message remains unchanged. Perhaps the most accurate reflection of the show's impact is a review on Slowmuse.com, in which an audience member observed, "We came in as strangers, and we left as a tribe."

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