If You Missed Bloody Goregeous Monologues...

For those of you who weren't able to attend last night's event, you missed one hell of a show. When the video is ready, you'll get to see some of the wonderful monologues, but in the meantime, here is my pre-speech. I'm kinda proud of how it turned out.

Good evening, and welcome to Bloody Goregeous Monologues. For those of you who are under the impression that we at La Petite Morgue can't spell, let me clarify something. It's not "Bloody Gorgeous" as in, British for "very pretty". It's a term of our own creation. It refers to beauty, but also, to fierceness. To blood, to gore, to guts, and to a willingness to delight in the darker side of life. We at La Petite Morgue felt that it was the right way to describe the female playwrights and performers we're celebrating tonight as part of Women in Horror Recognition Month.

When we put together our first Fresh Blood event, I asked a friend of mine to direct one of the plays. She politely declined, saying that, an activist against domestic violence, she couldn't be involved with a horror group, due to a moral objection. She wished us the best, but said that the horror genre is known for glorifying sexualized violence against women. It threw me for a loop. Because, yes, there are horror films that exploit women. But to think that a group - which is, incidentally, ran by women - can't do horror that isn't sexist, that isn't exploitative, and that is totally fucking scary and bad-ass and awesome...

I don't know about you, but I say, if you're not happy about how something you love is being done - DO. IT. BETTER.

For those of you who aren't familiar with Women in Horror Recognition Month, WiHM assists underrepresented female genre artists in gaining opportunities, exposure, and education through altruistic events, printed material, articles, interviews, and online support. WiHM seeks to expose and break down social constructs and miscommunication between female professionals while simultaneously educating the public about discrimination and how they can assist the female gender in reaching equality.

In 2011, women made up only 5% of directors working in Hollywood. Why would that be?

Is it because women aren't naturally bossy enough to be directors for the stage and screen? ...I think I'm living proof that's not it.

Is it because women don't like horror? ...I don't think so. I think Chelsea, Ava and Margaret would tell me that there are plenty of female members of the New York Horror Movie Meetup group.

Maybe women just can't handle the sight of blood. ...No, wait... that's not it.

Could it be that women aren't made to feel welcome in the genre? Could it be that women are discouraged from taking leadership positions? Could it be that women are lacking female role models, mentoring, support structures, and access to the fundraising resources that make a career in the arts possible?

Well, the good news is, we can do something about that, and we're going to start by introducing you to eleven female playwrights and twelve female performers, and at the same time, raise money for the Viscera Organization and the Fund for Women Artists. 

Now, if you please, turn off your cell phones so that we don't have to actually, literally murder you, and get ready to be TERRIFIED by BLOODY. GOREGEOUS. MONOLOGUES!

Thank you to everyone who helped make this event such a success, and thank you to Viscera, for inspiring us to come up with the idea in the first place. I think we should do it again, every year.

And don't forget to join us on Wednesday for Fresh Blood: Full Moons & Monsters!

<3,

LPM