{"id":5759,"date":"2016-10-22T15:05:30","date_gmt":"2016-10-22T22:05:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/?p=5759"},"modified":"2016-10-26T14:56:48","modified_gmt":"2016-10-26T21:56:48","slug":"artistic-note-on-the-how-and-the-why","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cohoproductions.org\/old\/blog\/artistic-note-on-the-how-and-the-why\/","title":{"rendered":"Artistic Note on The How and The Why"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"millay\"<\/a><\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

I saw and heard, and knew at last<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i>The How and Why of all things, past,<\/span><\/i>
\n<\/span><\/i>And present, and forevermore.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

-from <\/span>Renascence <\/span>by Edna St. Vincent Millay<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

\"Karen<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n

It is fitting that, in <\/span>The How and The Why<\/span><\/i>, Zelda\u2019s favorite poet is Edna St. Vincent Millay. Millay was a revolutionary poet of her time: a woman, a boundary-pusher, a Pulitzer Prize-winner, and a First Wave feminist activist.<\/span><\/p>\n

Zelda herself is a boundary-pusher; a woman borne of the Second Wave who made tremendous sacrifices to rise to the top of her male dominated field with a groundbreaking feminist hypothesis.<\/p>\n

\"Gwendolyn<\/a>Rachel, just half of Zelda\u2019s age and hungry for the approval of her scientific peers, follows in Zelda\u2019s footsteps with an even more radical hypothesis that might change the way we think about the female reproductive system. These characters, inspired by real women and their extraordinary contributions to the field of evolutionary biology, struggle for survival and insight in an inhospitable environment.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Director<\/a>Director Philip Cuomo chose <\/span>The How and The Why<\/span><\/i> as an \u201cenergetic link\u201d between <\/span>The Gun Show<\/span><\/i><\/a>, CoHo\u2019s first play of the season, and the upcoming world premiere of\u00a0<\/a><\/span>db<\/span><\/i>. Treem\u2019s play not only provides thematic, stylistic and emotional balance to CoHo\u2019s season, it offers two dynamic roles for women. \u201cPortland is rife with talented female actors of various ages,\u201d Cuomo said, \u201cand CoHo is committed to providing them opportunities like this. I am graced and honored to be working with Karen Trumbo and Gwendolyn Duffy, who ably tackled this challenging text.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Culturally, we continue to condition people to associate scientific expertise and accomplishment with men, making it all the more difficult for women scientists to succeed in the workforce. Male scientists discovered the \u201chow\u201d of menstruation and menopause long ago, but the \u201cwhy\u201d wasn\u2019t even considered until women began to study it. <\/span><\/p>\n

Sarah Treem\u2019s play is revolutionary in that it explores the bias toward the male perspective and offers public discourse about menstruation and menopause through a scientific, woman-driven, multi-generational lens. But, Treem\u2019s passionate and clinical dialogue coaxes out a story so much deeper than the science. This is not a play about the female reproductive system at all. It is a play about the how and the why of life.<\/span><\/p>\n