BUT HER EMAILS!
Hillary Clinton goes to prison in new play
By Rose Adams Her kicks are fast as lightning!
Everybody will be kungfu
fighting in a new comedy
show that finally does what Trump
could not — put rogue emailer
Hillary Rodham Clinton behind
bars. “Bandit: The Story of Hillary
in Prison,” playing one-night-only
at Williamsburg’s Brick Theater on
Feb. 7, shows the former presidential
candidate learning martial arts in
order to survive in a brutal upstate
prison. The jail’s rough conditions, as
well as Clinton’s loss in the election,
bring out her inner fighter, said the
show’s creator.
“She’s a little bit hardened,” said
Nick Naney, a Bushwick playwright
and comedian. “She’s someone
who’s filled with disappointment and
regret.”
The satirical show opens with
a brief backstory: After Donald
Trump wins the election, a judge
sends Clinton to prison for using
a private email server during her
tenure as Secretary of State. The
play then cuts to the fictional
Douglas State Penitentiary, where
Clinton struggles to fend off the
prison’s premier bully, Phaidra, and
her Poison Kiss gang.
Secretary of stance: Jessy Morner-Ritt will
play Hillary Clinton in a new play about the
ex-presidential candidate learning kung-fu
in prison. Photo by Caroline Ourso
Clinton, a scrappy fighter, forms
a coalition and becomes a formidable
martial artist, Naney said.
“I would say the audience will be
impressed with her kung-fu skills,”
he noted.
The play is a comedy, but it takes a
serious look at Clinton’s post-election
state of mind, said Naney.
“To lose that election, even though
it wasn’t exactly valid, it must’ve
been a huge blow,” Naney said. “We
Something to chew on: Cannibalism often becomes a metaphor for sexual desire and
power, as in the 2016 movie “Raw.”
COURIER L 42 IFE, FEBRUARY 7-13, 2020
go deep into her psyche. She has this
resolve in her.”
Naney, a Clinton voter and current
Bernie Sanders supporter, decided
to write the play because of his
“obsession” with kung-fu movies —
particularly “Riki-Oh: The Story of
Ricky,” a 1991 film in which a kungfu
master goes to prison, he said.
He began working on “Bandit”
earlier this year, and said he would
have made her character less
sympathetic if he wrote the play today.
“I wrote this before what she
said about Bernie came out,” Naney
explained, referencing Clinton’s
recent claim that “nobody likes
Bernie.”
The over-the-top action ultimately
portrays Hillary Clinton favorably,
but Bill Clinton comes off less well.
In the play, the former president
ignores his wife’s desperate pleas
from prison.
“He’s kind of a sleazebag,” Naney
said.
“Bandit: The Story of Hillary
in Prison” at the Brick Theater
579 Metropolitan Ave. between
Lorimer Street and Union Avenue in
Williamsburg, (718) 907–6189, www.
bricktheater.com. Feb. 7 at 8 pm and
10 pm. $15.
The hunger dames
Cannibal women subvert the patriarchy on film
LBy Kevin Duggan ook out boy, she’ll chew you
up!
An upcoming talk about
female cannibals in film will show
that devouring people is one way for
oppressed women to strike out against
stifling society expectations. “Man
Eater: Cannibal Women on Film,” at
Greenpoint’s Film Noir Cinema on
Feb. 12, will survey films from the
last 50 years where female characters
take control by eating human flesh,
according to the presenter.
“It offers a resistance to society’s
demands that we keep women and
their appetite in control,” said Kate
Robertson. “Women are told they’re
not supposed to want things, they’re
these empty vessels… Most of these
films are about power.”
Robertson will discuss more than
a dozen flicks that feature women
who can really rip your world
apart, including the 1981 slasher
flick “Frightmare,” the 1989 horror
comedy “Cannibal Women in the
Avocado Jungle of Death,” and the
stylish 2016 film “Neon Demon.”
The talk will be accompanied with
several blood-soaked images and
clips from the films.
Robertson, who has studied the
subject for about a decade, says that
stories of women cannibals go back
centuries, including the Greek myths
of the Bacchae and fairy tales such
as “Hansel and Gretel.” The stories
change to suit the moment, but the
transgressive elements remain the
same.
“They respond to the social
situation, but it’s quite surprising
how consistent they are in time,”
she said.
Robertson’s talk kicks off the
spring season of monthly lectures
from the Miskatonic Institute of
Horror Studies. Highlights of the
season include a look at indigenous
cultures in horror, on March 26; and
the final talk on May 21, about the
links between horror and the goth
subculture.
“Man Eater: Cannibal Women
on Film” at Film Noir Cinema 122
Meserole Ave. at Leonard Street in
Greenpoint, (718) 389–5773, www.
miskatonicinstitute.com. Feb. 12 at 7
pm. $15 ($12 in advance).
The cast of “Tj Loves Sally 4 Ever,” which will take over Bedford-
Stuyvesant theatre Jack until Feb. 29. Photo by Zoe Freilich
Academic
affairs
New play moves historic
scandal to modern college
A By Ben Verde new play offers a
fresh perspective
on a closely
examined historical
affair. “TJ Loves Sally 4
Ever,” opening at Clinton
Hill’s Jack theater on Feb.
13, was inspired by the
“relationship” between
founding father Thomas
Jefferson and one of his
slaves, Sally Hemings,
but updates the story to
a 21st-century college
campus, with Jefferson a
dean and Sally one of his
student workers.
The play seeks to
sweep away the idea that
the relationship may have
been consensual, or that
Hemings could have been
in love with Jefferson,
according to its director.
“No matter how you
spin it this was the story
of a predator and someone
being preyed upon,” said
Jordana De La Cruz.
She hopes that by
using a power structure
more familiar to modern
audiences, the nature of
their relationship will
become more clear.
“If you could examine
that power dynamic set in
the present, people might
see it differently,” said De
La Cruz. “No one ever
thinks ‘Maybe that student
really does love that dean
that’s pressuring them to
sleep with him.’ ”
Playwright James
Ijames created the piece
after growing frustrated
with several new works that
portray the two as having
had a loving relationship,
including the play “Thomas
and Sally,” produced in
California in 2017.
“He was really
frustrated with that idea,”
De La Cruz said. “So much
of American society is
drawn to putting a nice coat
on the past when it comes to
Thomas Jefferson and Sally
Hemings.”
While writing the play,
Ijames interviewed dozens
of Brooklynites about their
hopes for the future, asking
what the world would look
like if everyone were free.
Those responses were
incorporated into the script,
said De La Cruz, adding
that the play aims to leave
behind harmful narratives,
and to chart a path towards
a more equitable time ahead.
“It’s about shedding the
past and working towards
our collective future,” she
said.
“TJ Loves Sally 4 Ever”
at Jack (18 Putnam Ave.
between Grand Avenue and
Downing Street in Clinton
Hill, www.jackny.org). Feb.
13–29, Thu–Sat at 7:30 pm;
Sun at 4 pm. $15–$22.
/www.jackny.org
/www.bricktheater.com
/www.miskatonicinstitute.com
/www.miskatonicinstitute.com
/www.bricktheater.com
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/miskatonicinstitute.com
/www.jackny.org)
