"Rowena" from Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941

Check out Cyrilla Baer performing "Rowena" (music by Erato A. Kremmyda and lyrics by Maggie-Kate Coleman) from our recent Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941 at Joe's Pub! 

Go HERE to listen to the entire podcast, and please subscribe on iTunes and rate us.

César and The Lisps: "The Future Looks Very Fine"

Check out César and The Lisps performing "The Future Looks Very Fine" from our recent Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941 at Joe's Pub! Go HERE to listen to the entire podcast, and please subscribe on iTunes and rate us.

Brandon Davidson Performs "I Have Had The Earth"

Check out this powerful performance of "I Have Had The Earth," performed by Brandon Davidson. The song was composed by Tim Acito (who also accompanies on piano). It was part of our recent Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941 at Joe's Pub. Go HERE to listen to the entire podcast, and please subscribe on iTunes and rate us!

"(not) Normal" Performed by Grace McLean

Check out the incredible, voice-looping Grace McLean performing "(not) Normal" from our recent Let Me Ascertain You: Sex Variants 1941 at Joe's Pub! Go HERE to listen to the entire podcast, and please subscribe on iTunes and rate us.

Sneak-Peek of Occupy #S17

Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy #S17 is right around the corner! We have a really incredible lineup of performers and musicians for you (which you can see HERE). Our street team of interviewers has been hard at work talking to lots of new folks, and we can't wait to share their stories with you on Monday. Click HERE to get your tickets! And here is a sneak-peek of some of the interviews we'll be showcasing:

Brazilian theatre activist:

“On January 17th we started a campaign called Glamarchy. Which is Glamourous Anarchy. We, we love acronyms. And the whole idea was to experiment with, um, glitter bombing oppression… Glitter bombing is the art and science of (laughs) having a bunch of glitter in your hand or in a bag and when you see oppression, personal or impersonal, you just aim it and you glitter bomb.”

British former diplomat:

“When I went down to Zuccotti park I could almost feel the bankers looking down on us, laughing, thinking, you know, these guys are just, just, you know, they’re never going to change the way things are really done. So I always felt that Occupy needed to be about actually, practically, building better systems to replace what are very bad systems.”

Man from Shelter System:

“And I would see like, 5 million dollars in some sort of stock transfer and it just astounded me to think that I’m carrying all this money in my, you know, in this satchel and I was getting paid maybe $8.75 a hour to do it. ‘Why am I carrying this 5 million dollars and I’m, you know starving.’”

We have all our interviews available for you HERE (and we added a few more yesterday) if you want to read more! Plus, we have satellite shows of Occupy interviews happening across the country. Here's our list of incredible participants:

Kitchen Dog Theater in Dallas, TX
THE-TREE Institute in Portland, OR
HartBeat Ensemble in Hartford, CT
Theatre4 in New Haven, CT
Hartford Stage Company in Hartford, CT
Bated Breath Theatre Company in Hartford, CT
ARTFARM in Middletown, CT
Capital Classics Theatre Company in Hartford, CT
Jacques Lamarre in Hartford, CT
University of Cincinnati in Cincinnati, OH
Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, NY
Emerson College in Boston, MA

Follow #S17Civs for updates and conversation that day!

Lastly, this cabaret is launching what we're calling our Autumn of Revolution, which also includes Paris Commune at ArtsEmerson and BAM. We want to know:

If you could change one thing in our country, what would it be? 

Share your responses in the comments!

What has Occupy done so far?

Post by Adam Odsess-Rubin, Artistic Intern

As I continue investigating Occupy Wall Street for The Civilians upcoming show at Joe’s Pub, Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy #S17, I am struck by how different the cultural landscape is post-Occupy.  Before coming to The Civilians, I helped start Occupy Santa Cruz in California, and acted as their first homeless liaison.  This is a difficult job in Santa Cruz, a city with thousands of homeless folks from all kinds of backgrounds.  I had to break up fights, negotiate with police, and even have people leave general assemblies, but the conversation around involving the homeless in Santa Cruz was always around inclusion and empowerment.  The first night of OSC, I slept in San Lorenzo park with a group of fellow University of California students, community members, and yes- homeless people.  We fed them dinner and gave them blankets and then shared stories from our lives until somewhere around two in the morning.  We took turns through the night keeping an eye out for Santa Cruz police, who went on to evict the campers in later months.

I didn’t know it then, but this was a part of a societal transformation happening across the country, and around the world. The game was changing, and for the first time in a long time people were coming together for social and economic justice for the people - the now infamous ‘99%.’

 
Thousands have been trained in consensus decision making, and even more have moved their money to credit unions.  The opportunity gap is now a common topic of conversation on the news, in The White House, and in living rooms all over the United States, and in July, activists helped defeat student loan interest rates from doubling to 6.8%.  There has been a lot of criticism that Occupy ever accomplished anything, but I say people just aren’t paying close enough attention. Here at The Civilians, I’ve interviewed union organizers, locked out Con Edison workers, students, librarians, and even a former Marine. Their common message: turn off the TV and get involved.  I saw hope in all of them, and for a few months in late 2011, my entire generation dared to hope too.  Occupy may be dwindling, but organizers continue to connect people online and in person, working towards what they believe to be a more just society. Nobody knows what will happen on the one year anniversary of Occupy Wall Street, but I can tell you that something big is in the works.

At the OWS Library conducting interviews during the summer
- it was pretty warm in there!

On The Civilians front, we have an amazing show planned for September 17^th.  On top of the performance of interviews and songs from the movement, we are organizing theaters, schools, and activist groups from across the country to join us and curate their own night of Occupy performances simultaneously to ours.  We already have schools and theaters signed up from Ohio, Colorado, New Mexico, and Oregon and the list expands every day.  We hope you’ll spread the word about this exciting new project and join us on the 17^th! Visit the Occupy Your Mind web page for more info about how to put your own performance together and email me at Occupy@thecivilians.org for more info. And watch videos of past performances on our Tumblr HERE!

Get tickets to Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy #S17 by clicking HERE!

What is your favorite song about death?

We're coming up on our next Let Me Ascertain You cabaret at Joe's Pub, and this one is focused on the surprising, macabre, and unexpectedly funny stories related to perspectives on and experiences with death and the death industry. We've talked to funeral directors, morticians, a Yogi, and lots more - we hope you'll join us to hear their incredible stories and thoughts!

Last week, we got some great responses about your favorite death scenes in movies. This week, we want to know:

What is your favorite song about death?

And be sure to join us on Friday for the show - it's going to be great!

Get tickets HERE!


And here's what we've come up with:

Via a comment below: "Hades" from The Frogs


Via comments below:  "Erlkonig" by Franz Schubert (requested twice!)

Via a comment below: Johnny Cash's cover of Nick Cave's "The Mercy Seat"

Via a comment below: "My Death" by Jacques Brel, covered by David Bowie

 Via Facebook: "An Artist's Song" by Ari Picker for his band Lost in the Trees

 Via Facebook: Nick Cave's Murder Ballads (This is the first part of the album)

Via a comment below: "Saint James Infirmary" - Lily Tomlin/All Nurse Orchestra Version
 

Via a comment below: "Red River Valley" sung by Marty Robbins

Via a comment below: "Poor Jud is Dead" from Oklahoma
 

 Via a comment below: Verdi's Requiem

What is your favorite death scene in a movie?

We've been conducting a lot of different interviews for our upcoming cabaret at Joe's Pub focusing on unusual and unexpected stories about death and the death industry. Our artists have talked to a funeral director, a Yogi, morticians, doctors, and more to examine what can be tangible about this other-worldly topic. While we're working, we want to hear from you!

 What is your favorite death scene in a movie or play? 

Leave us a comment or link to a scene; we've got some of our favorites below!

 

(Spoiler alert)

 

Contributed via Facebook:

 

 Contributed below in a comment:

 

  Get tickets to the cabaret on May 18th HERE!

OCCUPY: Inside The Movement - POC Caucus

The Civilians are just one day away from re-occupying Joe's Pub with Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street, Part II! Tickets have been going fast, but you can still get them here. If you're not in the area or you can't make the show, we will be live streaming here - so tune in!

If you've been following the blog, you know we're featuring material from our over 100 interviews with people of varying involvement in the movement on January 13th at 9:30 PM at Joe's Pub. And you also know that there was no way we could fit all of the great stories we collected into one hour. So - we're using the blog as a way to showcase some of the other great material we have in our Occupy archive, material that you won't find at Joe's Pub on Friday, or anywhere else (yet!).

One Civilians artist interviewed Manissa Maharawal, who you might have seen in New York Magazine talking with Eliot Spitzer. Among other things, Manissa is involved with the People of Color Caucus in the movement. Here she tells a story of what happened when she and a group of her friends were at their first GA, and the organizers were getting ready to issue one of the movement's first public statements:

"I mean we're excited about this thing, but this is going to be like the document coming from the movement, then ... it can't .. we're - we're all saying that it can't go out saying that ‘We. Are. All. One. Race. Human Race.  Formerly divided by race class gender religion.’  Right?  Like, we know what they're going for, but like ... that's ignoring all sorts of like real problems.  That come up in society, but also like come up in activist worlds all the time.  And that reproduce themselves because we ignore them.  Right?  And so like, we said it, and they're like 'ok ok, email us about it' and we were like ... 'No.  Like we want this changed right now.' You know?  And so ... like the process kept happening, and then they were like are their any blocks?  And ... my friend and I looked at each other, and she was like 'Block.'   And I was like, but like -- if you've been in like consensus crowds that are just like ... blocking is not like something you do because you feel like it. You know?  It's like no one's stopping this whole process.  It cannot move forward unless you take up my concern.  You know, it's like a really, like it's a big deal.   It takes like a l-- it's mad responsibility.  And I was like I can't believe I'm gonna like stand here in front of like hundreds of people ... and block this thing.  And it's like ... you know, it's like Everyone's Gonna Hate Me.  (laughing) You know? Like literally. And I was like, well, I've got my friends who are like with me, and other people around us had been like listening to our conversation, and we just felt like literally like, the whole like, we wanted to make the point, because we felt like if everyone just got the point we were trying to make? They would be like, oh, yeah, totally.  You know?  And we just hadn't had, we felt like we hadn't had a chance to like explain ourselves properly because they're really trying to push this thing through, so I blocked it."

OCCUPY: Inside The Movement

Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street, Part II is happening this Friday! Tickets for the event are going fast, but can still join us on January 13, 2012 at 9:30 PM at Joe's Pub by clicking here for tickets. The Civilians will be bringing you material collected by our artists in over 100 interviews, featuring people with a variety of viewpoints and levels of involvement with the Occupy movement.

In anticipation of the cabaret, we're posting some of the interesting material we got that didn't make it into the cabaret,  right here on the blog!

This excerpt is from a German oncologist talking about how he got involved with Occupy:

"And so the day the occupation start I thought this uh by chance I was at Grand Central and I saw many young people with backpacks and sleeping bags, which is not totally usual for Grand Central, and I was wondering what was up.  And uh then you know I do not know why I uh two days later or so, on the internet, saw one of the live streams where they had a General Assembly and this was for me I said Wow! This is like being home.  Because they were using exactly the same methods of consensus building that we had used in the 80s for our non-violent blockades.  Look uh clearly there were people involved who have the same background I have, who have the same ideas.  And this led to that then uh on the first Wednesday so it started Saturday, Wednesday after was the first time when I was at uh downtown with Occupy Wall Street.  Again this incredible feeling.  Like time travel, you know, as if uh, look, '84, '83 to now, as if there would not be a gap in between in a way.  And then that Wednesday I decided that I would participate, that I would give one day per week.  Because look, with my flexible schedule, uh, and I decided that it would be Wednesday because that's in the middle of the week when other working people normally cannot do it, that this would be my day to be there, and so essentially since then every Wednesday I'm downtown."

OCCUPY: Inside the Movement - Interoccupy

Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street is back with Part II, on January 13, 2012 at 9:30 PM at Joe's Pub (tickets here)!

Civilians artists conducted over 100 interviews, but the cabaret is only an hour! Which means we have a lot of great material that we can't perform on the 13th. So, we're featuring exclusive material here on the blog that you won't find at Joe's Pub on Friday, from interviews conducted with a range of people connected to the heart of the movement. 

Here are excerpts from an interview with one of the first organizers of Interoccupy, which she describes as:

"But, um, Interoccupy, basically, what it’s trying to do- and it is doing this - is um, setting up a place for the occupations across the country to talk to each other and collaborate on projects- whatever… whether that be direct actions or more policy kind of things, you know um, demands, that kind of stuff."

And here she talks about one of the big questions post-raid - is Occupy more than just Zuccotti Park?

"It's a battle of economics, politics, and then just like social... Social.  Living.  Social justice..  And then, and then you have the camp, it's like you have the site itself.  It starts to become its own world, and its own politics, and you know.  And then, it's like well, what do we care more about?  Do we care more about the camp?  Or do we care more about what the camp represents, like, on a philosophical level.  I, I think that there's a lot of value to having a physical place where people went.  I mean there was a reason why tourists went down there, you know what I'm saying?  It's not just to look at the animals in the zoo, although that was probably some of it, but I think also, it was like, I know that I could go down there, and have conversation with a perfect stranger.  And they might be crazy, but most- a lot of times they weren't.  You know what I mean?  You could have actual exchanges with people, and I don't remember that happening at any other time in the city.  And I've been here for 20 years.  It doesn't happen.So I feel like that in and of itself is a huge success, you know, and, and... then it caught on in such a gigantic way.   It's like everywhere, like, every country, there's one of these things happening.  It's actually pretty hopeful."

LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU, OWS PART II: Inside The Movement

A lot has happened in the Occupy movement since The Civilians occupied Joe's Pub on October 28th, 2011. And so - get ready for round 2! Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street is back at Joe's Pub on January 13, 2012 at 9:30 PM with a whole new round of interviews from across the Occupy spectrum. For the past few months we've had interviewers out in the streets (and parks and plazas and public atria) of New York City getting the stories of over 100 protesters. The aftermath of  the Zuccotti Park raid? We were there. December 6th Occupy Home Foreclosures? We were there. Occupy Broadway? We were there! (And not just to perform.) Check past blog posts for highlights from those events and many others.

We've also been working our way inside the movement, to get the stories of people who have been organizing and strategizing day in and day out - to hear not only what's been going on, but also to find out their opinions and predictions on the future of Occupy.

In order to gear up for the 2nd installment of Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street at Joe's Pub on January 13th, 2012 (tickets here) we're featuring material from people who've had a key role in the development of the movement. These excerpts are CIVILIANS BLOG EXCLUSIVES from material that we won't have time to feature in the cabaret. So, keep an eye on the blog and get ready for January 13th!

Mary Notari was fired from her job for pretending to be a spokesperson for the Bloomberg administration at at protest event, as part of Yes Men performance (watch that video here). She told The Civilians about her experience:

"What ended up happening with the way the media responded to it was wholly unexpected as well. I don't think we expected it to make much of a splash. Because it just seemed too ridiculous for anyone to take it seriously at all. But apparently not. Because the point of the action was never to fool the media. It was never to fool anyone, except maybe the police, and maybe Bloomberg. But like, it was just supposed to be a satire, like, oh look at this ridiculous, these ridiculously contradictory things. Like, I don't think at any point, we really expected people to be fooled by it. And honestly, on the ground, people weren't. For like, maybe 15 minutes, people were like, 'What is this?' Like, really? But then all it took was someone texting Stu Loesser, and him saying, 'No. I don't know—there's no one by that name.'

Stu Loesser is the, um, press secretary for the Bloomberg administration. He tweeted—and this is of course why he's press secretary. Tweeting's such an art, and I haven't mastered it yet. Um, he just—on Sunday afternoon that we did it, he said, 'I'm going into the train. For the next hour, please no one impersonate any members of my staff.'"

Keep an eye on The Civilians Blog for more exclusive excerpts from over 100 interviews. And get your tickets for Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street, Part II on January 13th!

SNAPSHOTS FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET: Wezel

In anticipation of our upcoming cabaret, Let Me Ascertain You:Occupy Wall Street, we're posting some sneak peak previews of material from interviews used for the cabaret. This is an excerpt from an interview with Wezel, a farmer in his 70s with some interesting thoughts on the situation. To get the rest of his story and many others, come to the cabaret at Joe's Pub on October 28th! More info and tickets HERE!

“I’ve got a sixth grade education. You’re talkin’ to the wrong man. We need to reform our judicial system, our penal system - the whole medical thing is a disaster.  My wife and I, we’re in our sixties and seventies, ah, we’re fucked. No, we can’t, how could we, you know? We live on a thousand dollars a month, we couldn’t afford insurance.  So I get social security, my wife is 63, so we’re still waiting, and she lost her job. Her school closed down. She’s an art teacher. They completely shut the school down, she lost her insurance, and then she had a heart attack. So, so we have-  we don’t owe any money to anybody in the world except the hospital, about 50,000 dollars.  Well, when you live on a thousand dollars a month, that’s a lot of money for us.  And, uh, we thought Obama was gonna fix it-but…

A little bit at a time.  We go an’ dive dumpsters, an’ grow most of our own food, but it puttin’ us in a bind - but we still love it. We love (smiling) our country livin’, an’ we have a good life. We-look at our children, ya know? An’ our - one of our daughters is- is pretty well - doing a big thing in North Carolina. She’s had meetings with the police chief and the county commissioners, so we can occupy a park there. She also has a vegan restaurant, so she is feeding everybody, hundreds of people a day.  So yeah it’s- it’s a- life’s good."  

For more information about the investigative method and occupy wall street, check out our feature in the Washington Post HERE and the Wall Street Journal HERE!

Plus, we're working on bringing some of our interviewees to the theater! A donation of $15 buys one ticket for a protester. Click HERE! 

SNAPSHOTS FROM OCCUPY WALL STREET: Michele

Last week, we introduced you to some of the people interviewed by Civilians' Artists at the Occupy Wall Street Protest. This week, as Let Me Ascertain You: Occupy Wall Street draws nearer, we're going to give you a sneak peak at some of the characters who you'll find at Joe's Pub on the 28th, here on the blog!

The cabaret is on October 28 at 7:30PM at Joe's Pub (425 Lafayette Street in Manhattan). To purchase tickets, click HERE!

Michele is a longtime New York activist who has been going to the protest since day 3. She was arrested in the Brooklyn Bridge march. Here's a preview from her interview:

“I just decided, you know, the Brooklyn Bridge is a big monument; everybody across the country is going to know what the Brooklyn Bridge is. And, I didn’t want to get arrested, like I promised my partner I wasn’t going to get arrested. From the beginning, the second I went down to Wall Street, “Oh, don’t worry I’ve been doing this forever, I don’t want – I’m tired of getting arrested,” but I’m telling you, the energy at that moment - and people started saying, “Let’s take the bridge,” and then people started singing and dancing, you know? That chant that says you know, “Go up, go down there is revolution in this town”, and we literally just like started dancing out on the bridge and it was just – it was impossible to not do it, you know? And it just- it just- it was like, okay, maybe this is going to get the media’s attention, because up until that point there really hadn’t been anything except, I think it was the Daily News that had the cover of that woman’s cleavage, you know, with the police holding the woman down, you know? That unfortunate photo. Um, so anyways, uh, you know, we went out onto the bridge and I just accepted it and I was like okay, we’re going to get arrested and – and this – I hope it’s worth it, and, uh, and it was.” 

Stay tuned to the blog for more interview excerpts coming next week!

And to check out our awesome feature in The Washington Post, click HERE! The reporter, Peter Marks, talked to Steve and to our Associate Artist Greg McFadden about the creative process, investigative theater, and conducting interviews for our Occupy Wall Street cabaret. He even spent some time with Greg out at Zuccotti Park while he talked to some of the protesters! Check it out!

LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: PRETTY FILTHY - Winners!

For those of you who missed LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: PRETTY FILTHY on Friday, it went great! The performers did a thoroughly fabulous job, and it seemed like everyone had a fantastic time. Our audience responses were even filthier than they were at LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: PORN (difficult to imagine, considering the winning "pornified" name for Billy Elliot at the cabaret last June was "Bill-Me-Elliot-Spitzer"). I can tell you that the winner for Colin Quinn: Long Story Short  was "My Penis: Long Story Short" and the winner for Driving Miss Daisy was "Muff Diving Miss Daisy" (a dramaturg later suggested "Diving Muff Daisy"). I can't even tell you what Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark's was, though an excellent runner up was "Spider Man: Breaking My Third Leg."

Thanks for coming to those who did, and for those who didn't, hope to see you at the next LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU in June!

LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: PRETTY FILTHY Tonight!

In a few hours, we'll be doing our third cabaret in our LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU Series, this one devoted to our musical about the adult entertainment industry, PRETTY FILTHY. We'll be asking the audience a few questions, and we'll announce the winners at the event. For those of you who'd like to play along at home, give us your best answers! 

Write in a “pornified” title for the following Broadway shows:

#1 Spider Man Turn Off the Dark
#2 Driving Miss Daisy
#3 Colin Quinn: Long Story Short

For example, some movies that have been “pornified” include “Edward Penishands,” “How Stella Got Her Tube Packed,” and “Saving Ryan’s Privates.” You get the idea.

Let us know your thoughts in the comments, and we'll let you know what won on Monday!

LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CRIME, USA - Best Audience Crimes

At our cabaret at Joe's Pub on Thursday, Let Me Ascertain You: Crime, USA, we asked our audience,

WHAT IS THE MOST CRIMINAL THING YOU'VE EVER DONE?

Here are the most criminal responses:

"I'm a queer lady and I stole a keychain from a gay store in Northampton, MA - the lesbianist town of all. Not so criminal, but I was raised Catholic and oh, the GUILT!"

"Georgia, 1995. Certain sexual acts were still illegal then. Not trying to brag or anything. It was no big deal."

"I was arrested two weeks before my Bar Mitzvah with $200 worth of baseball cards and silly string in my pockets."

"You decide: a) Moved loads of pot through my 1957 Champion trailer. b) Smuggled tapes of Baloch insurgency out of Pakistan."

AND THE WINNER IS...
"Drunk driving to Vegas in an overpacked car - got pulled over but escaped unscathed due to $50 bribe!"

Congratulations to our winner, and a big thank you to all of our criminal audience members, and to the performers, Scrapomatic, and Alix Lambert! Thanks for a great evening!

When was the first time you held a gun? - LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CRIME, USA

"So, I’m in first grade, and I’m talking shit to three, four dudes in the class – 'I’ll take all of you on.' You know, I’ve got that Kung Fu movie I just watched on Saturday in my brain and anyone from the east coast knows about the Kung Fu movies back in the day, Saturdays at three o’clock, channel 5, so, you see that – you beating up everybody on the block. So, here I am – I’m talking mad shit now to these dudes, and after school, like I’m thinking they’re going to come at me like in the Kung Fu movies – one at a time. All three of them jumped on my little ass and I just felt it, just raining on me. So I came home, and I was crying, man, I wanted revenge, I wanted to get a knife from my mom’s kitchen and all this shit. And she said, 'What happened?' I said, 'Well, you know – these boys they jumped on me...' What ever. And she said 'Why?' And I said, 'Well, I told them I could fight ‘em.' And she said, 'Well, that’s what your ass gets.' So I learned what happens in the movies and what happens in reality is a whole different thing.

I can remember the first time I carried a gun, I walked with a gun. I was fourteen. I was fourteen, I had held guns when I was like ten, eleven, twelve – but like when I had my own gun, I was fourteen. And that is a very paranoid – like you’re so paranoid having a gun in your hand. It’s one thing when you see like all the older dudes carrying around, when you have it – it’s like, ok – you think the whole world knows that you have this on you. You build up that attitude of like, 'Ok, I’ve got a fucking gun.'"

-Former gang member and interviewee

For more info about LET ME ASCERTAIN YOU: CRIME, USA (this Thursday at Joe's Pub!), click here!