EARTH ONION SCRAP BOOK. summer tour 1971. women's improvisational theatre 1509 que st.

n. w. wash. d.c.
Author(s): Robin A. Evans
Source: Off Our Backs, Vol. 2, No. 2 (October, 1971), pp. 1-5
Published by: off our backs, inc.
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off

cob special features

"?97
V off our backs/Page

oob regular features

THEATRE
WOMEN'S

BRINGINGIT HOME 28

SURVIVAL

PRISON
ALDERSON

STRUGGLE
Abortion
As12Usual

30

FICTION

32

VULTURE
CULTURE

14

CHICKEN
LADY

38

LETTERS

14

ADS

Earth Onion

"

DIARY
CUBA

18

STUDIES
WOMEN'S

20

WOMEN
LEARNING

36

HEAVYCOMMENTARY1

CORRECTION: In volume I, number 23 on page 6 there was a mix-up

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earth

^"tn

onion

scrapbook

the beginning.
a women's
We are EARTH

ONION,
impro
There are eight
theater group.
visational
of us "Onions" (women) and two "scallions"
We decided that it
(Zafra and Blake).
on
far out
to take ourselves
would be
tour for a month of the summer. We were
excited by our work and wanted to show
people what we had learned, what we could
do, what they could do and we also wanted
to spread around some positive
energy and
All summer we worked on
have a good time.
as well as creating
our regular material
a fairy tale about a little
girl named
Elsa who runs away to a magic land, the
Tontwald.

The summer went fast and before we

knew it was time to leave on our tour.
A friend fixed up an old mail truck
for^
us, we were given some money and we had
five prearranged performances
lined up
in various parts of the south.
With old
in the back of the mail truck,
mattresses
stacks of back issues of off our backs,
loads of raisins,
pumpkin seeds and nuts,
bags, pampers and a 1967 Renault
sleeping
the Earth Onion Women's Improvisational
Theater group left Washington, D.C.

my diary

^@?

~W SUNDAY. We were supposed to leave Wyoming

Avenue commune at 11a.m. for a week of
At 11:30 Kathy
work in the country.
and said the axle broke on our
called
be fixed until
mail truck and couldn't
We decided to leave
tomorrow, Monday.
anyway and have the mail truck brought
I wanted to put
out to us next week.
I feared our week
off leaving because
I'm afraid we won't be
of rehearsal.
able to get a good performance together
in a week.
leave D.C. at 4p.m. after
We finally
alot of running around and going to a
in the park accross
Latin American fiesta
Peruvian
the street to eat tostados,
potato salad and lots of other goodies.
in the mountains around 7p.m.
We arrived
nice
is really
The place
in a rainstorm.
a
to
feel
seems
initally
only everyone
small mountain cabin
little
awkward;
swarming with eight women, two babies
have nervous barks
and two dogs* who still
left from the lovely city atmosphere.
We have a good dinner, talk about
our pasts,
plan the schedule for the
week and pass out at 12 midnight?

^^the

bewitchinghour.

Page 2/off our backs/October,

MONDAY. Here we are all alone 1n the moun

Its a beautiful
tains.
place and its what
A week
we have all been excited
about.
and time to
alone with solid rehearsals
Yet we all
get to know each other.
which we are!
seem alittle
disoriented,
And I'm homesick for my routine and
my man.

is great.
Our afternoon rehearsal
We go to the top of the hill and rehearse
of
our play naked with the exception
flowers that we all put in our pubic
We all dig looking at each others
hairs.
various kinds of scars
bodies,
noticing
and that we almost all have one big and
one small breast.
In the evening we all try on
costumes and laugh at how crazy we can
look.

I had a rough time sleeping.

TUESDAY.
The air is muggy and I'm constipated.
is fun. We all give
Moming rehearsal
We
each other back and face massages.
cool
the
into
and
jump
all feel great
Some
mountain stream next to the cabin.
of us
clinic?one
the
to
to
us
leave
go
of
has a sore crotch and wants to check it.
So we
Today I'm cooking with Julie.
a
are
and
good
some
bread
making
baked
I'm
I hope I sleep well tonight.
soup.
no longer constipated..hooray!

WEDNESDAY. Surprise--Kathy
(an old member^
of our group who isn't going on our tour)
She watched our
came out to the country.
she
said
and
thought it was great.
play
relieved.
We all felt really
We decided to have a feast for dinner.
We all dressed each other in wild scarves
and then the cooks for
and fancy material
and
the evening told us to sit in a circle
We were then fed fan
close our eyes.
food and drinks with our eyes closed.
tastic
We finally
opened our eyes and saw loads
of wonderful food and drink spread out
We danced and played and
in front of us.
had a great time.
10p.m. had to go down the mountain
We lost our way on
call.
for telephone
the way home. My car got stuck in some
and tired.
I'm pissed
We finally
rocks.
found the way home. SLEEP.
******

SUNDAY. Our first performance. GREAT,

FANTASTIC, Loads of friends came out to
iy.A
BEAUTIFUL DAY
the country to see us,
GREAT DAY. WE ARE ALL HAPPY AND HIGH.,

1971

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our

tour omens

from the
the creative,

the gentle,

Coming To Meet

iching
heaven

wind

(Kou)

...a situation
in which the principle
of darkness,
after
and unexpectedly
obtrudes
furtively
having been eliminated,
Of its own accord the female
again from within and below.
comes to meet the male.
and
It is an unfavorable
principle
and we must understand and promptly
dangerous situation,
prevent the possible
consequences.
...linked
with the fifth month (June-July),
principle
becomes ascendent
of darkness gradually
again.
The Judgment
One should not
Coming to meet.The maiden is powerful.
marry such a maiden.
...The
inferior man rises
only because the superior
man does not regard him as dangerous and so lends him power.
If he were resisted
from the first he could never gain power.
...When heaven and earth come to meet each other, all
creatures
prosper, but coming together must be free of dishonest,
harm will result.
ulterior
otherwise
motives,
The
WThus

Image
Under heaven, wind:
The image of Coming to Meet.
does the prince act when disseminating
his commands
and proclaiming
them to the four quarters
of heaven.

peeling
Y

?v

onions

The Earth Onion is

its
peeling
oute
ter layers and
did
growing...we
the first part of
on the
practice
play this afternoon naked, placing
ferns and flowers in our
pubic hair,
dancing on the grass,
singing to the
and
the mountains and the river.
sky
In many ways we're
off fears
stripping
and inhibitions
and finding new
levels of self to share with each
other.
It feels so much like an
idyllic
community that I hate to say
it for fear it won't remain
this
But our life
way.
together today
was good; that I know?the
quiet as
people rose to their own rhythms,
bathed in the stream,
exercised,
read, wrote, did yoga and
meditation,
fed the babies and then followed the
prac
schedule we had outlined
practice
the night before.

tf/e sea./(tons

goi

n'home
"A goi p.' home, bah, bah, bah,
bah,
A goin' home, home, home, home..."

bah,

Back down South to all my fears and

loves and sor
hatreds,
"Hometown girl made good" I feel like as we arrive
in Atlan
ta.
I am here now for a reason,
no longer a passive
visit
home.
I'm with my friends and
no longer a lone, scared adoles
sisters,
cent battling
hard walls of people.
against
It's
called
growing
to believe
up but it's*hard
it's so good.
Me transfer the house where I
into Onion
spent my girlhood
ville.
is grateful
for the homeiness of subur
Everyone else
bia after the strangeness
of the road, but I am disconnected:
part of me with the Onions, part with the past.
As we go through the first and final
harried,
grim rehears
al before our performance,
my parents and sister
been
(having
at the lake for the
week) arrive.
They act upset but don't say
as
anything
^iyht Onions rush around like White Tornados
getting
the house
in shape.
Joanne in costume introduces
herself as Zelda
the Witch. They leave in about fifteen
minutes but the damage is
back to me all the old
done--bringing
of rage,
primal feelings
guilt and insecurity.
And I'm to perform in three hours--have
to
create my character who is of all
totally
things a good, strong,
whole human being.
I'm feeling
little
support, people are saying
it's going to be awful, yet if
they are sympathetic and coddle me
I won't get
I begin a scene, break into tears?it's
through it.
not coming through.
the rest to go on to
Telling
something else
I shut myself in a bedroom and
pound on the walls until
it hurts.
Then I begin to turn all of that nervous
into creation?
energy
I make myself move.
I transform myself as adoles
Slowly, slowly,
cent horror into Zenobia,
calm, beautiful,
leader of the
exciting
Tontwald.
Images pop into my head, gestures
that are real,
are part
of the Zenobia that is in me.
Returning to the group, I try it out and they love it.
They
coach me to exaggerate
more and it grows and grows into
ness
Once again I am amazed at this wonderful
wholeness.^
energy that transforms
(neuroses into beauty and strength.
rows

October,1971/offour backs/Page 3

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earth

onion

scrapbook

f
r

my
Won

^in

riday the 13th

Friday the 13th lived up to its name. The night before we V
had invaded Julie's
home ?
all of us in dire need ofif ^
parents'
a little
southern comfort.
With all but brother Ross away
there was plenty of room for us to spread out and relax.
Our
needed more rehearsal
time for we decided a
play desperately
that we wanted to make some major
couple of days previously
Julie's
changes in it right away.
arrived
parents unexpectedly
as we were in the midst of our morning rehearsal.
Freak out.
We frantically
rushed about to clean up.
Sink full of dishes
and baby shit on sheets in parent's
room. Poor Julie's
mother
stunned.
obviously
They left rather suddenly after fifteen min
utes or so and the house was ours again.
With still
much work to
be done, frustration
set in as the afternoon wore on and the
time to leave for our performance neared...
We decided at about
five p.m. to go back to our original
version.
The audience was a long time arriving
and we calmed our
nerves with a jug of wine.
Marianna used the mail truck to pick
up scads of fourth grade boys who heckled and giggled and were
generally
contrast
to the
disruptive.
They were a striking
radical
lesbian
sisters
to arrive
later.
The anxiety
lessened
as our play got rolling
and it went beautifully.
Things that
had seemed strained
in rehearsal,
came together
in performance,
and the audience
response was very positive.
One mother in her
forties who had offered to take care of Zafra and Blake came
up
to me smiling and
extending her hand to me warmly congratulating
us.
Singing, we headed back to the suburbs for macaroni,
hash, brownies and fantastic
butter pecan ice cream.
Being stoned
and very happy we started
improvising during dinner by adopting
^-"tish
and the evening
accents,
ended in rollicking
jolly
goodj
fun.

tour notes
the road?First

day

in Renault,

seconc^W

mail truck. Both days high spirits.

Full of
Eager to explore what lies ahead.
and thoughts for the play.
revisions
Talk
with people along the road?waitresses,
Women's conscious
attendants.
gas station
ness again?Strong
No
feelings.
positive
hace, Tittle fear.

Women's May Day Conference.

Atlanta.
The play must
Panic.
Living Nightmare.
be revised.
The new cast
(which I have a
major part in) must learn the new version
and perform it in two days.
Many of us
start to loose confidence.
So much work,
so little
Confu
time, so little
energy.
sion among ourselves.
How can we work
and relate
to this conference
as well? Why
are we here?

folly
beach

Page 4/off our backs/October,

The first night is spent in a tent in the sand,

But a storm nearly finishes
us and the land.
We then rent a cottage that is very very
strange,
The only thing that seem normal is the sink and the
range.
After

three days of floods the sun finally

appears,
Unfortunately we must leave, we realize
with tears.

We eat at a health food restaurant

late
at night?all
The atmosphere
exhausted.
is cozy, comfortable,
the food good, its
run by sisters
and brothers?like
dreams of
after the revolution.
We give a workshop at the conference.
I'm
women come?all
directing.
Seventy-five
factions.
Highest energy I've ever seen in
our warm ups.
Twenty-five women form a
work machine, then a survival
I
machine.
understand machines for the first time.
These are total,
uncontrived.
People have
I guide them into
really worked hard.
smaller groupings to form sound circles.
Laying on backs with heads in center,
This
breathing and letting out sounds.
is my favorite exercise;
I want to share
I am very loving with the group I di
it.
rect.
Their eyes are closed;
their faces
reflect peaceful
I'm thrilled.
joy.
They
rise from this, run together,
throw off
I think
Love.
clothes,
sing Revolutionary
its beautiful.
I'm high on the spirit;
feel proud that we brought people together,
for thirty minutes.
I know it won't last,
but believe
these moments are valid.
It's
like falling
in love?the
first few weeks
t last forever,
a
but it makes them no
beautiful.
m

Onions go to the beach to rest and have some fun,

alas there appears to be no sun.

Our next performance is

off we all go feeling

^OurSo

in less
pretty

than a day,
OK!

Ik

onions

turning inward
N.C.
19, Charlotte,
The rehearsal
Slept pretty late.
got underway after lunch
with Kathy directing.
There was a lot of irritability
and confusion
around how much energy was expected from each individual
in a
complete run through of the play in the day of the performance.
I felt more like being off by myself and was anxious and out of
touch with everyone.
I took some time out later that afternoon
and threw an I Ching which spoke of Contemplation
and Standstill.
The fifty excited women we'd been told were waiting for us
in Charlotte
turned out to be a mixed bag.
We performed in a
neighborhood playground and the audience
ranged from teenage
basketball
and
players to one woman who referred to us as "chicks"
We didn't
start
suggested we needed more "yang" in the group.
the performance on time because we kept hoping for more people
to gather and thus the play's
last scenes were awfully hard to see
in semi-darkness.
we had about this performance were
The feelings
I didn't
mixed.
feel the high that had been with us in Sperry
vilie
and Atlanta,
but understandably,
some of that was due to
the bugs, intermittant
Back at
lightning and general darkness.
thewomen's house we had bowls of milk and blueberries and later,
atenrs^j
11 hungry, made popcorn and talked.
Bedtime came late,
August

1971

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earth

onion

scrapbook

ft-bragg
Armytownof Ft. Bragg is a crystali^^B
is dedi- V
of America.
Fayetteville
cated to the principles of shabby sensual ^

Bfhe

Wzation

we'll
You get the pleasure,
I
pleasures.
Pawn I
get the money, thank you very much.
after restaurant,
shop after go-go joint,
after jewelry store,
after movie theater,
into Fayetteville,
after...
When we pulled
we walked down the street to the restau
rant.
After being so comfortable with
ourselves?the
way we looked, the way we
was a super shock to be in such
are?it
an environment.
We felt weird and bizarre.
from some other planet.
Like creatures
Like we were being seen as mammary glands
As we ate, GI's came by the
and vaginas.
window and made contorted faces at us.
"Come on baby, come on out here, we'll
We spent the
show you girls a GOOD time."
day at an extremely high level of anxiety,
the worst for the performance.
expecting
I walked into Haymarket Square trying to
maintain as much of my dignity as possible,^
as if I was about to be guilloB
|k feeling

Btined.

Haymarket Square is one of the oldest

one
around and still
U.S. GI coffeehouses
to have
It purports
of the better ones.
bookstore between DC and
the most radical
Havana.

The

space

is

huge?an

old

7&

ware

at one end and

house with the bookstore
a yogurt and fruit Quice bar at the other,
with lots of tables and chairs and a stage
Some of the people who
in the middle.
work there are old timers around the place,
all were
have been on brigades,
several
with
the kids.
and
very friendly
helpful

Au^Lf^dU,
*7&*foa4d>
cttAfay&U

how was
the tour?
mm When someone asks me how the Onion^

was, I immediately respond "fantastic.1

^trip It was.
came
A deep sense of closeness
on so many levels of my
from struggling
being with nine other people day and night
became more
for a month. We gradually
and psy
attuned to each other's
physical
that we had
rhythms, realized
chological
to learn to communicate them in order to
There were times when I
work together.
to choose
wanted so much to be alone,
what to eat or where to go without a joint
There
that I felt
like splitting.
decision
were times when I really wanted to work
hard and other people were tired or sick
and couldn't.
There were lonely hours
when I longed for friends back home and
space to deal with radical
changes that
in my life before
had just taken place
the trip began.
But the Onion sisters
and the work were important and the ef
The process
forts to grow so rewarding'.
was hard but good.
Sharing meant not
only pounding and screaming our frus
but
trations
in improvisation
sessions
like our silent
also planning surprises
its outer
As Earth Onion peeled
dinner.
rather
layers, we found more of ourselves
than less.
"Hang-ups" and suppressed
anger became powerful drama when we lis
at our sisters'
tened to ourselves
urgings
and let our feelings
out into our voices,
eyes, cheek muscles,
tongues, hands,
breasts,
Many times we
hips, feet.
sometimes to the point
amazed ourselves,
of tears, with the intensity we could
communicate with tired bodies and over
learned to soothe
worked minds.
We also
each other with body rubs, ghost stories,
flowers,
thoughtful sharing of work and
two amazing children.
Now that we've
come back to the city, we are physically
and psychically
separated
(though exactly
half of us are presently
living together)
but the onion strength and two practices
a week in which we try to keep peeling
and our feeling
for each other keep us
new
to
growing
depths.

gestalt

GESTALT

I am a castle
are tal1
My walIs
Sweating cold on the
On a hill
I

am

inside

hurricane

Hurricane

Robin
Ravaging the coast
of my soal

I feel like a snail

Taking it slow
Not easy-in a forest
Can't be mapped
photos by david otto
& karel weissberg.
stories
by all the
cover by
onions,
our good friend judy
davis.

that

-At

And I am a child
Abandoned and lost
In my storm that
Won't let go
Robin A.

Evans

end

of

the

road
October,

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and

home

1971/off our backs/Page