On Nov. 4, Cecilia J. Pang wants your commitment. She wants you to give up something and focus on the big issues that face our country. She wants you to say no to sex and yes to voting.
Cecilia J. Pang approved this message.
Pang laughs out loud when she talks about her idea to make Nov. 4 "No Sex Day." But she's not kidding.
"We can give up sex for one day," says Pang, a CU professor of theater who's currently directing the musical "Go Lysistrata!" on campus. "We're trying to promote people thinking consciously about the election on that day."
Earlier this month, when Pang first broached the idea of a No Sex Day with the cast of "Go Lysistrata!," not everyone was on board. But soon they got it, Pang says.
"I think it's a great idea," says Amy Luna, a senior CU theater major who plays the title role in the musical. "Anything that can help people pay attention to what's going on in their community and around the world is good. And it really fits perfectly with this play."
"Go Lysistrata!" is Pang's adaptation of ancient Greek playwright Aristophanes' anti-war play "Lysistrata." The story imagines the women of warring Troy and Athens joining together to use sex as leverage in order to stop the Peloponnesian War. Their message to the men: You're not getting any until you lay down your weapons.
Pang first directed a version of "Lysistrata" when she was a graduate student at the University of California-Berkeley in the late 1980s. Billy Wolfe was in the cast and wrote the music for that version.
When Pang wanted to revisit the adaptation and fashion a longer musical version to open CU's mainstage season this year, she decided to find Wolfe. A Google search led her to Austin, Texas, where Wolfe is a working musician and the musical director of Ballet Austin.
Wolfe wrote 19 new songs for the CU production, which opens Thursday. He spent several days in August in Boulder and taught the cast and musical director Trent Hines the music.
The score includes R&B, gospel, hip-hop and contemporary Broadway-style songs. Taking a cue from Aristophanes' original and Pang's adaptation, the lyrics Wolfe wrote are playful.
In one song, "If Women Ruled The World," the verses wonder what it would be like if women did indeed rule the world.
It goes: "All movies would be romantic comedies ... the fashion police would take over, the price of phone calls would be lower ... and there would be no more war."
"It was really fun to write," Wolfe said. "If it wasn't fun, then I stopped. It needs to be fun and immediate and crazy."
And funny.
"Aristophanes is the father of all comedy," Pang says. "If he were alive today, he would probably be writing for 'Saturday Night Live.'"
Luna points out Aristophanes was able to make sharp social commentary by delivering it in comedic form.
"The politicians were being made fun of all of a sudden, and yet they were laughing at what was being said about them," Luna says.
Pang describes the 75-minute show as a bawdy romp. The bawdiness comes through both in the text and visually. Yet, despite the humor and raunchy edge, the musical carries a serious message, just like Aristophanes' original.
"He wrote 'Lysistrata' 21 years into the Peloponnesian War," Pang says. "He wrote it out of deep grief."
In 2002, when the U.S. and a handful of allies were gearing up to invade Iraq, two New York-based actresses conceived of a movement they called The Lysistrata Project. By March 2003, roughly 800 theater groups had joined on and produced various versions of Aristophanes' play in 43 different countries as a way to promote a message of peace. The Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art was home to a local production.
Five years later, Pang and her cast talked about the Project, and about "Go Lysistrata's!" continuing relevance.
"We are currently in the sixth year of an unpopular war; and as the (U.S.) election is approaching, the play reminds us that we have the power to speak, to think and to act," Pang says.
Beyond the play's message, Pang came up with another way to "think and act" -- by promoting No Sex Day on Nov. 4 -- when she read a recent issue of Time Magazine. The issue featured a story detailing 21 ways citizens can serve their country. One suggestion was to give one day of service.
That's when Pang thought of giving up one day of sex and focusing on political issues. It's a twist on the action the women take in "Go Lysistrata!"
According to her contract, Pang isn't allowed to use her professional standing at CU -- and the play or the planned No Sex Day -- to advocate for specific candidates in the coming U.S. elections. But she can encourage students and others to get involved in the political process.
She and the CU production team plan to promote the Nov. 4 No Sex Day in the "Go Lysistrata!" program and with signage at the theater. They're hoping the idea catches on.
"We're just trying to spread the word -- avoid distraction and get out and vote," Pang says.
By Mark Collins
If you go
What: CU Department of Theatre presents "Go Lysistrata!"
When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and Oct. 8-11, 2 p.m. Oct. 12
Where: CU Mainstage Theatre, CU campus, Boulder
Tickets: $14-$17
Info: 303-492-8181 or www.cutheatre.org
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